Doonites celebrated the arrival of spring with an annual flower show , the Spring Festival, at the Raj Bhawan. With a variety of different flowers and plants – cacti, bonsai, tulips, orchids, lilies, ranunculus, azalea, pansy, petunia, cineraria, among others – the two-day long festival saw Doonites flocking the lawns of the Governor’s house to enjoy the beautiful array of flowers and soak in the ambience and beauty of the lawns, which they get to visit only occasionally.Teams from Indian Military Academy, State Forest Department and IIT Roorkee participated in the fest and among other things, visitors, in large numbers, were seen shopping for seasonal and ornamental flowers. “Due to the Chaar Dhams, Uttarakhand has an annual flower trade of `200 crores for which flowers are often procured from other states. Through this fest, our aim is to promote the floriculture here,” said an official from the Horticulture Department, who was also the organiser of the event.For homemaker Poornima Bhist, the event was an opportunity to purchase items that she had been yearning for, for a long time. “I bought five flower tubs and three non-flowering plants that can be easily maintained at home,” said Bhist.Renu Gupta, an ardent Instagram follower, has been gathering ideas for home décor from social media for sometime now. This festival offered her the opportunity to use those ideas. “I am satisfied as I got exactly what I was looking for,” said Gupta.Rakesh Nautiyal, one of the participants at the festival, who runs a nursery in Kaulagarh, said that the event turned out to be quite profitable for him. The visitors seemed happy with his collection. “Most of the customers were those who stay a bit far away from my place. The Kalanchoe flower was the most-sold at my stall,” he added.Ram Dutt from another Doon-based nursery said that due to prolonged winters and on and off rains, the season was great for the growth of flowers, especially tulips. “Youngsters were showing great interest in tulips, which were all sold-out,” Dutt said.A rose stick priced at `20, a lilium and cineraria between `10- `15 created the perfect occasion for Doonites to bargain and buy huge bunches of cut flowers.Piyusha, who along with her mother runs a cacti nursery in Bhimtal, said that the cacti had a decent following . “People liked the coloured cap and the full thorny grusonii, which is also called the mother-in-law’s chair,” said Piyusha.G.S Panwar, from the Botanical Survey of India, and one of the judges at the fest, said that while floriculture has prospered in the state, it still has a long way to go to make a mark at the national level. “The fest is doing great but we need more varieties of orchids, and this is where northeastern states have an edge over us,” Panwar said.Teams from the State Forest Department, IMA, ONGC and IIT Roorkee also bagged various awards for their mastery in floriculture and décor and the awards were presented to them by Governor Baby Rani Maurya.kushagra.dixit@timesgroup.com

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