The Mughal Garden at Rashtrapati Bhavan is all set to welcome spring with its annual "garden festival" with long queues of dark roses, white daisies and tulips. This attractive garden located in the Rashtrapati Bhavan complex will be opened to the general public on February 5. Superintendent of President's Park PN Joshi announced on Sunday.
This time around 10000 tulips, 138 types of roses and about 5000 seasonal flowers of 70 types will welcome visitors.
Famous for its rare and attractive roses, the main attraction of this garden this time will be the rose named "Grace the Monaco". Last year, Prince Albert II of Monaco planted the rose in the garden.
In this floral exhibition, various types of roses are named after eminent people like former President Pranab Mukherjee, Mother Teresa, former US President John F. Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth and first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Apart from celebrities, roses have been given unique names like Christian Dior, American Heritage, First Prize, Kiss of Fire and Double Delight.
Here visitors will see some very rare types of roses such as the green rose with thin and long green petals, the almost black textured Oklahoma and Bonnavi and the blue moon and Lady X with light blue hue.
The garden is covered with a variety of bulbous flowers such as Narcissus, Dahlia, Sparaxis, Ranunculus, Hyacinth and Asiatic lily. Tea cup-shaped tulips are the hallmark of the Mughal Gardens, especially the "Jammu Pink" tulips, which are remotely identified due to their bright pink colors.
Last year, the number of visitors to the Mughal Gardens was 5.18 lakh and since 2003, three to six lakh people definitely visit it every year.
He said that security would be deployed where necessary, barricades would be put in place and those who would damage the park would be monitored. Managing the garden is a difficult task. It takes a lot of time and effort to maintain it in its shape.
Inspired by Persian and Indian miniature paintings, along with the Mughal gardens of Jammu and Kashmir and the gardens surrounding the Taj Mahal, the Mughal Gardens were designed by Edwin Lutyens. It has many elements of British garden art. Trees like Maulsari, Cyprus and China Orange have been neatly planted in 'Dube' grass-covered lawns brought from Belvedar Estate Kolkata.
Visitors can see three parts of the garden, in addition to the quadrilateral, the long and round part – the spiritual garden, the herbal garden and the bonsai garden.
On visiting the Mughal Gardens, people can also visit the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum. Archival photographs and paintings of the garden have been installed in the museum.
The garden will be open from 10 am to 4 pm throughout the week, except Mondays from 5 February to 8 March.
However, the park will be open exclusively to farmers, differently able people, defence, paramilitary forces and Delhi Police personnel.
