At the heart of Udhagamandalam stands a garden, beautifully laid out in terraces with rose blooms, pergolas, and bowers with rose creepers. A stroll along the green garden with bays earmarked for colourful and fragrant roses is a sight to remember. According to folklore, there is a specific rose believed to bring luck or love — the Blue Moon. It is said if you want your wishes to come true, you whisper your wish to i it and wait to see it bloom at sunrise! While there are roses named Black Gold, Sweet Promise, Black Magic, the show stealer is a rose named after the late J Jayalalithaa, a former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. “The garden is famous for roses named after celebrities and historical figures, including roses dedicated to Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru,” says Dipali Sikand, founder of Club Concierge, who now runs MindEscapes in Ketty, a creative retreat.

The beginning

The Government Rose Garden, located on the slopes of Elk Hill, established to commemorate the Centenary Flower Festival in 1995, is renowned for being home to some of the rarest and most beautiful rose plants. The Horticulture Department organises an annual Vegetable Show at Kotagiri, a Rose Show at the Government Rose Garden in Udhagamandalam, the Fruit Show at the Sims Park at Coonoor, and the Spices Show at Gudalur which draws tourists in huge numbers to the district every year. 

“We have 4,200 varieties of roses, and 38,000 plants. The Nilgiris district collector Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru inaugurates the pruning of rose plants at Government Rose Garden in February to formally inaugurate the preparations for the 20th rose show,” says an official from the horticulture department adding that the roses, now in full bloom, will be displayed across six terraces.

Officials say that roses would start blooming from April, so tourists visiting the garden over the summer will get a chance to see them in full bloom for over two months till July end. The highlight is the collection of rare colours as well as many shades of single colour, for example varying shades of orange, blue and yellow. As one enters the garden, the  first rose that greets you is a green one. And, there are brown-coloured roses too. This year, rose installations themed on dolphins and dugongs will be the main attraction. “We have 11 installations of aquatic beings built using over two lakh roses in six or seven colours. It highlights the conservation of aquatic species,” says the official.

A sweet whiff

According the horticulture department officials, tourists throng the hills just in time to take in the sights and smells of roses. Adds Dipali,“Gardeners use a special mix of organic compost and cow dung from local breeds combined with Nilgiri tea waste, believed to enhance bloom richness. While the total count exceeds 20,000 rose bushes, they cover easily around 2,800 plus different varieties,” she says, adding, “There are roses from over 25 countries.”

Tracing the history, D Radhakrishnan, a retired journalist, recalls that the rose garden was created on a sloppy terraced piece of land extending over about four hectares at the Vijayanagaram Farm.

The Department of Horticulture executed the project with a sum of ₹50 lakhs sanctioned by the then Jayalalithaa Government. “To start with, 1919 varieties of roses were planted. The number of plants was 17,256. Even at that time the collection was one of the largest in India. It was named the Jayalalithaa Rose Garden. Later, the name was changed to Centenary Rose Park in English and Nootrandu Roja Poonga in Tamil. Then, it came to be called the Government Rose Garden,” he says adding that over the years the number of varieties and plants have increased and its popularity has grown considerably. Today, this garden has a captivating collection of roses, one of the largest in the country, featuring hybrid tea roses, miniature ones, and roses of unusual colours like black. It has been recognised as a ‘Garden of Excellence’ by the World Federation of Rose Societies.