Disney fairy castle, Niligiri mountain rail engine are star exhibits at 126th annual Ooty flower show

A massive recreation of a Disney fairy castle, measuring 35 feet in height and 44 feet in length stole the show at the 126^th Annual Flower Show in Udhagamandalam, that was inaugurated on Friday (May 10, 2024) morning.

According to officials, the castle, along with characters from Disney, the mass media and entertainment conglomerate, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto and Donald Duck, made out of more than one lakh carnations, chrysanthemums and roses, arranged painstakingly on prefabricated rafters, were the main attractions of the show.

Thousands of tourists streamed into the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) for the flower show, which is set to take place over eleven days, until May 20.

Other exhibits included a recreation of the iconic Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) train engine, measuring 33 feet in length, 20 feet in height and 25 feet in width. The exhibit was reportedly created using over 80,000 chrysanthemums and carnation flowers.

An engine of the iconic Niligiri Mountain Railway recreated a the 126th flower show at the Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam (Source: SATHYAMOORTHY M)

The flower show was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, Shiv Das Meena. Also present was Apoorva, Agriculture Production Commissioner and Principal Secretary, B. Murugesh, Director of Agriculture, P. Kumaravel Pandian, Director of Horticulture and Plantation Crops, Nilgiris district collector, M. Aruna, and other officials from the Horticulture Department and district administration.

The Chief Secretary, along with Nilgiris District Collector, M. Aruna, earlier in the day, inspected the functioning of the e-pass system that came into force from May 7 and will continue till June 30th. Both Mr. Meena and Ms. Aruna spoke to motorists at Kallar to obtain feedback on their experiences in procuring the passes.

Roses arranged in a display of elephants at the 19th Annual Rose Show in Udhagamandalam (Source: SATHYAMOORTHY M)

The 19^th Annual Rose Show was also inaugurated on Friday. Over 80,000 flowers were used to make floral exhibits using gabion statues of elephants, Indian gaur, deer, Nilgiri tahr, tigers, pandas, bears, owls and pigeons. The theme at the rose show was ‘Save Wildlife.’

A laser light show is also to be organised every evening at the Government Botanical Garden at 7 p.m.