Instead of going when the show is in full swing, I thought I would go and see the prepartions for the Horticultural Show at Lalbagh, that begins this afternoon.

There are posters of the even at every gatet:

And the final touches are being made to the three beautiful displays, made entirely of Dutch roses. Here’s the lovely Taj Mahal:

And here’s man’s forays into outer space:

And here are two birds, as if to mark the fact that Lalbagh is a haven for birds:

HEre’s a picture that combines all three displays at one angle:

There was a display of posters at the Glass House:

And here’s one of the posters. Many featured innovative use of colour, plants, scenery and birds (almost all of them used only the black kite, crow, or mynah!)

Some of the plants which won prizes looked so attractive even if they are well-known…here’s the Bougainvillea display:

And here’s the croton display, which also got HAL the first prize:

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And around the Sampige alley, and at the entrance (near the Ficus Benjamina trees) several stalls were being readied. The National Horticulture Mission stall led them all…perhaps it is symbolic that the red carpet extends only halfway?

Several people were setting up stalls which sold handicrafts:

And this stall, which advertised floral decorations for weddings, made a beautfiul show itself!

So did this one, which was selling gladioli corms, giving the bloom colours as reference:

One stall had these very nice vegetable figures….does this one have a look of Gandhi? That’s what it looked like to me….but the other one didn’t remind me of anyone in particular!

One stall which impressed me was run by people with disabilities, who are trained for horticultural work. Surely this stall should be patronised heavily!

And there was a bonsai area, too. I had just read in the paper about the controversy that surrounds the Bonsai garden in Lalbagh lately….

If you cannot visit Lalbagh for the next few days, that was a glimpse of the Flower Show for you. If you can…do go and enjoy the show! There’s sure to be something for everyone, and the variety of exhibits will be really interesting.