Flower show with over half a million petals to create life size models this year

This year's  ten-day flower show, part of the famous dasara festivities 2019 commencing from September 29,  would be bigger and brighter and hence expect a giant statue of the last Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar as a tribute to him, on his birth centenary year.

The flower statue would measure 27-feet in height from the ground level and the diameter of the mantapa would be 12 feet. Two elephants made of various flower petals would adorn the flower show and each will measure 9.5 ft. in height and 9.1 ft. in length. Over half-a-million flower petals would be used to create a slew of life-size models as part of Dasara flower show.

The officials of the Horticulture Department who shared the details on Friday said that ISRO's Chandrayan -2 mission would also be depicted through flowers. As special attraction for children, there would be life-size statues of Donald Duck of varying heights as well.

Flower pot arrangement featuring 40,000 varieties of flowers would be a special attraction apart from Ikebana. Apart from the horticulture department, a few business and industrial houses too would be part of the flower show. BEML, Mysuru City Corporation, Brake India Ltd., Palace Board, Titan Valves, JKTyres, JSS Ayurvedic College, Government Ayurvedic Medical College, and University of Mysore would also have flower arrangements to shore up the festival spirit.

Among the more popular events, the Dasara flower show has a hoary past and historians trace the first show to 1880 at Wellington Lodge and it has never ceased to please the tourists or visitors ever since. Subsequently, flower shows were also organised at the Gordon Park opposite the DC's office, at the Lalitha Mahal Palace and Town Hall.

Horticultural activities received a major impetus under G H Krumbiegel, a German botanist who established the Mysuru Horticultural Society at Lal Bagh in Bengaluru in 1912, and later under H C Javaraya, K Nanjappa and M H  Mari Gowda.