After Tulips, Kashmir Bets on Chrysanthemums to Keep Tourism in Full Bloom

With the green of the summer turning to brown in the Kashmir Valley and autumn bringing out its dull colours, a new floral movement is emerging: chrysanthemums, or in the local language, Gul-e-Dawood. Following the success of tulips in the springtime, the Kashmir government and professional floriculture workers are planning the expansion of the tourism season by introducing special chrysanthemum gardens, which will illuminate the scene in October and November.

An experimental chrysanthemum garden has already been established in the Sher-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST-K). More than 80,000 plants are prepared, and the bloom should start in mid-October and go on until around November 20-25 when frost starts biting. Having over 60 types in 20 different colours (including lots of shades in between), it is aimed to defy the fading nature of autumn. Polyhouses are also designed in such a way that the bloom will even go up to the middle of December. This window will be accompanied by A Chrysanthemum Festival in order to attract schools, policymakers and the people. The mission statement is the tagline: Starting with tulips in spring and ending with chrysanthemums in the fall is what makes the Valley.

Similar to a campus project that SKUAST-K undertakes, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has initiated its own project, Bagh-e-Gul-e-Dawood, a chrysanthemum theme garden to be constructed inside the Botanical Garden in Srinagar near the known Tulip Garden. The garden is situated on a total land area of approximately 100 kanals with an investment of approximately 1.87 crore and with pathways, visitor facilities, lighting, selfie points and utilities that will contribute towards the visitor experience. It is also upgrading a hi-tech flower nursery at Poloview to provide seedlings to enhance sustainable horticulture and local growers.

Chrysanthemums, officials think, will work just as well in the fall as tulips in the spring, and change what is now, relatively, a quiet tourist season into a lively one. The chrysanthemums are hardy and therefore they can be grown in large numbers in the area without having to bring in costly bulbs, hence the initiative is more sustainable. The infrastructure development, capacity building in the area, and provision of amenities may pay economic payoffs to the entire tourism ecosystem-hotels, guides, taxi operators, houseboats-but provide visitors with a new incentive to visit during the October and November seasons.