If you are into flowers or plants,

then Bangalore is a lovely place for you.

A splash of carnations

Bangalore has been big on cut-flowers and traditional flowers for many years now. The market for flowers is huge here and florist kiosks abound the city. You see beautiful, colorful, fresh flowers just about anywhere - Gladioli, roses, chrysanthemums, orchids, lilies, carnations, asters, and dahlias are a sight to behold.

There are many nurseries too in the city. In fact, every locality has at least a few of them. Right in this neighborhood, there are 3 nurseries that I know of. I am sure there are many more that I am not aware of. My mom used to be big on gardening, not so much anymore. It was fun to visit the nurseries with her, carry back plants, and grow them at home. These days, there are many workers available to work on your gardens. You don't even have to soil your hands! The gardeners do a fantastic job of maintaining your plants/gardens for you and offer their services regularly by planting, pruning, and maintaining your plants for you!

When in the US, my hub and I managed to have a decent number of plants. But of course, we did the entire thing ourselves from bringing home the plants, to potting them, watering them, taking care of them etc. We loved buying plants at garage/estate sales. It was fun meeting the owners of the plants; some of them would gush about their plants before selling them. We hated buying plants at stores, it seemed too commercial! Also, with experience, we realised that the plants from homes survived much better than plants from the stores. Some of our weekends were planned around getting home plants and working on them. It has been 9 months since our return and all that already seems so far away. Sigh! Beautiful memories.

Like the vegetable vendors in Bangalore, you have plant vendors too. They carry potted plants on push-carts and bring them right to your door-step! Similarly, the flower vendors bring the traditional flowers like the jasmine, chrysanthemum, crossandra, etc right to your door step as well.

It is a pleasure to visit the local florist and the local nursery. The colors and the smells are enjoyable, espeically if you are a flower lover like myself.

PS: The much awaited Lalbagh's flower show is right around the corner. It is around the time of India's independence day, Aug 15th. We plan to head out early one weekend morning to avoid the crowds.


Some pics of flowers for your visual delight straight from the local florist/nursery. Each flower pic is clickable and can be viewed large.

Have a great weekend, my friends!
You are welcome to let me know the pics you liked! :D

Gerbera

Orchid

Yellow Daisies

Baby pink carnations

Red rose

White gladioli


Dahlia

Orange Gladioli

Double shaded carnation


Strawflower


Goldenrod