Udupi flower show set to open Feb 10

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Feb 09, 2018: The Department of Horticulture will be organising a fruit and flower show and Farmers’ Day at the Flower Auction Centre in Doddanagudde here from February 10 to 12.

Addressing media on Feb 8,  Thursday, Shivananda Kapashi, CEO of zilla panchayat, said a 12-feet-high Shivalinga statue made out of red, white and yellow roses would be a major attraction at the show. As many as 3,100 roses and 75 kg of marigold and chrysanthemums would be used in its making. A 5-feet-high Nandi statue made out of gerberas would be yet another attraction.

The statues of animals, including an elephant and lions, and butterflies would be sculpted by using flowers, including 4,000 carnations, 1,000 Peruvian lilies and 25 kg of marigolds and chrysanthemums. A vertical garden could also be seen at the venue.

A variety of flower saplings would be on display at the show. These included marigold, petunia, verbena, coleus, impatiens, celosia, gomphrena, dahlia and sunflower. Other decorative flowers too would be on display at the show.

The department had cultivated flower saplings in flower pots. These flower pots with saplings would be available for sale also. There would also be an exhibition of ‘mattu gulla’ and ‘Udupi mallige’, both from Udupi district, which enjoy the Geographical Indication tag.

Another major attraction would be the exhibition of a terrace garden. The importance of this exhibition is that it shows many vegetables grown in special pots with the organic fertilizer provided by the Solid and Liquid Resource Management Centres under the ‘Swachh Udupi’ Mission. This would encourage people to get organic fertilizers from the SLRM centres and cultivate vegetables in their kitchen gardens.

Various stalls too would be put up at the show. Progressive farmers would be felicitated on the inaugural day of the show. Cultural programmes would be organised in the evenings on all three days at the venue by the Department of Kannada and Culture, Kapashi said.  Bhuvaneshwari, Deputy Director of Horticulture, was present among other key people.