Sights, Sounds, Scents Wrapped in Serenity

M. A. Siraj | NT

Bengaluru: No visit to Ooty, the ‘Queen of Hill Stations’ can ever be complete without a visit to Government Botanical Garden.

A mélange of splendid verdure, sights, scents, sounds and serenity, it casts a magical spell on visitors, regardless of season one may choose to enter its portals.

Spread over 55 acres of sloping terrain as well as hills, the Garden is a rich repository of biodiversity India offers to the world.In 1847, when it began to be laid out, it was merely conceived as a vegetable garden meant to supply vegetables to the local folk.

The British settlers paid a subscription of Rs. 3 each to be its members. But then the then governor of Madras Presidency, Marquies Tweedale ordered a public garden to be created.

He appointed William Graham Mc Ivor, a gardener trained at the London’s Kew Garden, as superintendent in 1848. Mc Ivor spent next two decades in transforming the wilderness into a garden based on Lindley’s system.

No wonder then why the Botanical Garden today offers as much history as it provides the visual pleasure and insights into botanical wonders.

Showcasing the floral fantasies, it brings together several elements such as some of the most aesthetically laid out greenhouses, edifices, pools and glades, all imparting it a heavenly ambience.

As one enters the massive portals of the garden, a road leads inside with two ornate structures serving as sentinels.

The sprawling verdant glade that rises gently to merge with the slopes of the Dodda Betta is unmistakably the most breathtaking spectacle evoking wondrous gasp.

At the far end stands the centenary flower festival pillar erected to commemorate a hundred years of the annual flower show. The first flower show was held in May 1897. A grove of cypress pines flank it on one side while a thicket of serene beeches stand guard on the other.

In autumn, it is said, the fiery brilliance of their leaves is a sight to see: scorching-oranges, burning-browns and molten-reds. But spring drenches it with rainbows with sunbeams of stained glass clarity showering the leaves with their pristine rays.

With over 650 species of plants, the garden has plenty to boast and brag about the wonders it possesses. Some of its more popular and unique attractions are the Monkey puzzle tree, Cork tree and paper bark tree.

Araucana or the Monkey Puzzle Tree is the hardiest of these species. It is a large, stately evergreen conifer native to the volcanic hills of the Andes mountains in Latin America.

Its unique branching pattern is too confusing for the monkeys to explore. But the star attraction and an instant crowd-puller is the Fossil Tree trunk standing on a pedestal.

It is believed to be over 20 million years old has been brought to the garden from the sandstone mounds in Thiruvakkarai village in Villupuram district.

Besides, there are many small ponds which are laced with stunning water lilies and lotuses.The sprawling garden is divided into several sections. These are Lower Garden, New Garden, Italian Garden, Conservatory, Fountain Terrace and Nurseries.

Italian garden was laid by the Italian prisoners of war who were shifted here during the First World War. It displays circular flower beds of red, yellow, orange and purple flowers around the crescent-shaped lily pond.

A water cascade from the top imparts it a gorgeous look. The Conservatory is yet another elegant structure. It was built in 1912 with the objective of grouping various flowering plants like Cineraria, Balsam, Cyclamen, Tuberous begonia, Coleus, Geranium, chrysanthemum, Primulas and scores of others.

As one ascends the winding stairs, trees replace plants. trees with gnarled stems, trees with mesh-like root systems and trees that reach up to skies. An arboretum was set up within the Garden in 1992 on an area of around five acres.

It was started with the objective of conserving native and indigenous trees. It came up with a micro watershed in the background. Funds came from the Hill Area Development Programme.

It currently hosts 80 trees. A few replicas of Toda huts too have been created to provide the visitors insight into the Todas, the original tribes inhabiting the Ooty hills.

Embracing all that can offer comprehensive sensorial pleasure to pupils and nostrils, the Government Botanical Garden is both a paradise on earth and a centre for learning for anyone keen to know what the temperate clime of Deccan nurtures in its bosom.