Government Rose Garden, Ooty,
Nilgiris
Government Rose Garden is a
public garden located in Ooty Town in Ooty Taluk of Nilgiris District
of Tamilnadu. The Government Rose Garden (formerly known as the
Jayalalithaa Rose Garden, Centenary Rose Park and Nootrandu Roja Poonga) is
situated on the slopes of the Elk Hill in Vijayanagaram of Ooty Town at
an altitude of 2200 meters.
History
The Rose Park was established at
Vijayanagaram in Ooty town to commemorate the Centenary Flower Show in
the Government Botanical
Gardens, Udhagamandalam in May 1995. The flowers are arranged
in five curving terraces covering four hectares. The garden is maintained
by the Tamil Nadu Horticulture Department.
The Rose Garden
The Government Rose Garden was
established in an area of 4.40 hectares spread over five terraces. The Rose Garden
is situated in the lower slopes of the Elk Hill facing the Udhagamandalam town.
There are five terraces in the Garden. The first terrace situated
just below the approach road, has a miniature rose gallery. The second
terrace being the largest terrace is the main feature of the garden. The
slope on the upper side is beautifully landscaped with green kikuyu grass,
foliage and flowering plants. This terrace accommodates important and popular
varieties of rose plants. The latest varieties were planted here by grouping
this based on shades like Vermillion, White, Yellow, Blue, Red, Pink, Mixed,
Bicolour etc., Roses were planted on either side of the terrace leaving centre
part as lawn, which is the living area of the garden.
There is a Nila Maadam, an
observation platform on the second terrace. From the Nila Maadam, tourists can
observe the entire rose garden. The third terrace is a small and elegantly designed terrace which
ends with “Heritage section”.
This looks like a bow and accommodate about 170 rose varieties of floribunda.
This terrace is called as the Rainbow. The visitors can enter this terrace
through the service road at northern end and also from the second terrace.
The fourth terrace is
a wide terrace, almost rectangular in shape. This terrace is also planted with
beautiful varieties of the roses on either side and two elegant fountains steal
the show. The fifth terrace is
also planted with most collection of rose varieties.
Ooty has a unique tropical
mountain climate, hence the garden has the ideal climatic conditions for
growing roses. Temperature variation is low, and the rainfall distribution is
uniform, which results in a long flowering season. The garden is visited by
thousands of tourists throughout the year, even in winter when it is not the
flowering season. Initially, when the gardens were developed, 1,919 varieties
of roses with 17,256 rose plants were planted. Today there are more than 20,000
varieties of roses of 2,800 cultivars.
It is one of the largest collections of roses in India.
The collection of roses
includes Miniature Roses, Ramblers, Hybrid
Tea Roses, Yakimour, Polyanthas,
Papagena, Floribunda and roses of unusual
colours such as green and black. The varieties of rose plants planted here were
assembled from different sources around the world. The garden has been laid out
with rose tunnels, pergolas and bowers with rose creepers.
The garden includes major
attraction such as arches, bowers, umbrellas, fountains, Nila Maadam,
viewpoints and Gazebos. The entire Rose Garden is in a steep slope. The
landscape has been developed in such a way that the entire Rose Garden will be
visible when one stands in the four viewpoints of the garden. Recently, a
Heritage Rose section was established exclusively with oldest varieties of
Roses evincing academic interest. The garden also features a statue of an
angel amidst the roses.
Recognition
The rose garden received the
Garden of Excellence Award for being the best rose garden in south Asia,
from the World Federation of Rose Societies in
May 2006, in Osaka, Japan. This
garden is one of the 35 gardens worldwide to have received this award.
Annual Rose Show
Every Year Annual Rose Show is
being conducted during 2nd week of May (which is the peak season in Nilgiris)
to enable the numerous tourists from India and all over the world to witness
the elegance of the Rose Varieties which are in full bloom during those days. A
Rose competition is also being held, so that the local public can participate
and display the Rose grown by them in their homes.
Garden Timings
The opening and closing time of
the Government Rose Garden is 8.30 AM to 6.00 PM daily.
Entry Fees
·
20 per person
·
30 for Still Camera
·
75 for Video Camera
Visitors
On an average eight lakh
visitors enjoy this fabulous collection of Roses every year which has become
one of the Best Rose Garden in the whole of India.
Connectivity
Rose Garden is located at about 2.5 Kms from Ooty, 2 Kms from Ooty Bus
Stand, 2 Kms from Ooty Railway Station, 18 Kms from Coonoor, 30 Kms from Kotagiri,
49 Kms from Mettupalayam Railway Station, 83 Kms from Coimbatore and 86 Kms
from Coimbatore Airport. Ooty is well connected to Coimbatore, Kerala and
Karnataka.
Location
