Digital Transactions @ Lalbagh Flower Show 2017 @ ONLY CASH PLEASE

          The Averkai Mela is over and now Lalbagh flower show gets ready to welcome visitors.

          The Bi-Annual Lalbagh Flower Show is back in action. The 205^th Edition of the Lalbagh flower show was inaugurated on 20^th January 2017. The show will be open till 29^th January 2017.

         

 Visitors need  to spend money to enter Lalbagh during the flower show. The entrance tickets rates as under:-

Weekdays: Rs. 50

Holidays/Weekends: Rs. 60

Children: Rs. 20

Free Entry for school children on January 21, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28 from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm,

Entry tickets will be sold at all entry points from 9.30 am to 6.00 pm.

As the theme across the nation is Digital Transactions, this time Department of Horticulture, Karnataka has introduced POS terminals. These POS Terminals are expected to encourage CashLess transactions modes at the entry points.

Inside Lalbabh, visitors will spend money at HOPCOM Outlets to buy food products. Apart from HOPCOM Outlets, visitors can spend money at various stall set-up inside Lalbagh. There will be stalls and nurseries where one can purchase manure, seeds, pesticides, plants, pots and other garden materials.

However, once inside Lalbagh, visitors need not bring out their Debit/Credit cards as no POS terminals will be available.

ONLY CASH PLEASE

5 lacs visitors are expected to throng Lalbagh during this flower show. Visitors are expected to spend cumulatively over 25 lacs inside Lalbagh. The amounts will be spent on entrance tickets and at various other  stalls inside Lalbagh.

 ONLY CASH PLEASE

          The bi-annual Flower Show at the Lalbagh Botanical Garden  is held during the preceding week of Republic Day in January and Independence Day in August.

Lalbagh Botanical Garden spread over 240 acres in the heart of Bangalore welcomes a large number of visitors every day. The numbers swell on weekends and zoom up during the Biannual flower shows. Each edition has a theme associated with it. The Theme is decided couple of months in advance and the preparations begun to showcase the best of the theme.

The 205th Republic Day Special Flower Show is organized by Department of Horticulture and The Mysore Horticulture Society, Bengaluru.

The show begins on January 20th  2017 and marks the Birth Centenary of Dr.M.H. Marigowda, Father of Horticulture in Karnataka.  Synonymously, a bust of Dr. M.H. Marigowda would be placed at the Glass House and an Exposition of his Achievements and Quotes would be showcased.

Innumerable varieties of flowers, fruits and vegetables are exhibited in the shows including exhibition of potted plants, cut flowers, Thai Art, Ikebana, Indian Floral Art, Bonsai and vegetable carving. 

Parallel to the flower show, a Garden Competition is conducted among various competitors such as Government establishments, residential gardens of ministers and private bungalows, BBMP, BDA, gardens of Hotels, super-specialty hospitals, banks and even IT companies participate enthusiastically.

          The theme for the 205^th edition of Lalbagh flower show is Gol Gunmbaz. A floral replica of Gol Gumbaz, the architectural Dome wonder located in Bijapur, will be the special attraction of the Republic Day Flower Show this year. Bedecked with an approximately 4 lakh Red, White, Pink and Yellow roses it would be a floral wonder.

Inside the Glasshouse, flower arrangements will be made in three corners, by Lalbagh Botanical Garden, BNCS, Ooty Fernhill Gardens & Cymbidium orchids.

Nearly 250 Cymbidium flowers, originally from Australia and the Netherlands,  grown in Darjeeling and Sikkim would be seen for the first time.

On the left side of the Glass House, a mammoth vertical garden built over an area of 1,750 sq ft using 35,000 flowers of different colours and leaf variety plants would be displayed by Bhagylakshmi Farm and Nursery, a reputed floral company in Bengaluru.

On the right side of the Glasshouse replicas of colourful butterflies created using rose, chrysanthemum, orchids, carnation, etc. would be displayed. The Butterfly Bay is being sponsored by Silk Mark, an initiative of Central Silk Board.

Huge floral cascades created using gorgeous Petonia flowers on the lawns outside the Glasshouse would be a feast to the eyes. India’s National bird the peacock would be in a floral  avatar too.

Arrangement of attractive chrysanthemum flowers from various parts of the country and abroad, stunning cold climate flowers like Begonia, Impatiens, Azalea, Fuchsia and pot-grown perennial flowers would enthrall flower enthusiasts.

Various cultural programmes by renowned artists will be held by the Deptartment of Kannada and Culture on all the days of the show.

"Apart from installing 25 additional security cameras around the garden, there will be 400 policemen on duty. We are leaving no stone unturned to make the event safe," said M A Ravi Kumar, director, Mysore Horticultural Society (MHS).

Special measures include door-frame metal detectors, hand-held metal detectors and nearly 80 security personnel with supervisors. There will also be a police outpost, 45 first aid boxes, five ambulances and a mini-hospital with an ICU and a doctor on call. The medical unit will have medicines for bee, snake and dog bites. There will also be a designated fire brigade unit as well as a bomb disposal squad on call.

Prabhash Chandra Ray,, commissioner of the horticulture department, said in the wake of the recent death of a six-year-old boy after a granite structure in park fell on him while posing for photograph, certain areas will be made no-selfie zone.

The show has many varieties of flowers on display, but the ones that drew the largest crowds were Cymbidium orchids from Sikkim. They grow 5,000 feet above sea level, and are said to have been around since 1815. This is the first time that the horticulture department has brought this variety to the exhibition.

The other favourites include Impatiens (which are often used as a herbal remedy to treat bee stings and rashes from Poison Ivy), Azalea (which are a favourite among gardeners but are also believed to be so toxic that their bouquets are sent as death threats) and Fuchsia (which is named after a German botanist Leonhart Fuchs).