2K flower varieties on display at PAU Chrysanthemum Show

Presenting a multitude of flowers through the display of 2,000 varieties of flowers, the two-day ‘Chrysanthemum Show’ kicked off at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) on Tuesday.

Dedicated to the celebrated Punjabi poet Bhai Vir Singh, who was a great admirer of flowers; the show has been jointly organised by the Department of Floriculture and Landscaping (DF&L) as well as the Estate Organisation of the PAU.

Inaugurating the show, the chief guest, Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, said: “With its demand gaining momentum and no replacement to its natural beauty, chrysanthemums remain the highly sought after flowers for enriching surroundings.”

Beneath trees, in this open area of Dr Manmohan Singh Auditorium, the beauty of numberless chrysanthemums was a pleasant sight to the eyes of the beholders, who had a rare opportunity to enjoy their company, rather than sitting in isolation and remaining glued to their smartphones, he observed. With chrysanthemum placed at the second spot in the international flower market, the university has been bestowed with the honour of being one of the top centres of ICAR for floriculture research and production, the VC said.

Dr APS Gill, former professor of floriculture, PAU, and ex-national consultant of floriculture, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA); Dr JS Arora, and Dr Ramesh Kumar former head, DF&L, PAU, were the special guests on the occasion. The dignitaries extolled the undeviating attention of the DF&L in keeping this age-old tradition of holding Chrysanthemum Show alive during its peak blooming period.

Dr Parminder Singh, head of the DF&L, while sharing intricacies of the show, said the department had a collection of over 250 varieties of chrysanthemum and developed 17 varieties of chrysanthemum, including seven hybrids, till date. Garnering an enthusiastic response on the opening day, the show exhibited over 90 varieties of chrysanthemums belonging to diverse categories, he said.

There were 10 classes (incurved, reflexed, spider, decorative, pompon/button, single/double Korean, spoon, anemone, any other and specially trained plants) for the competition comprising Japanese and Korean varieties of chrysanthemum, he added.