From being a local affair in 19th Century to a crowd-puller, a flower show goes on Premium

Annual flower show in Udhagamandalam, Nilgiris, a marquee event since 1896, attracts tourists to Government Botanical Garden.

Every year, Udhagamandalam in the Nilgiris comes to a standstill as lakhs of tourists ascend the mountain range from different parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka to visit the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) and to take part at the marquee event of the summer festival: the annual flower show.

Though the flower show has officially been held 126 times since its inception in 1896, its roots probably predate the first confirmed event by at least a few decades: it could be one of India’s oldest flower shows, if not the oldest. The show was not held for two years on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The history of the event can be traced to 1869, the year in which The Agricultural and Horticultural Society of the Neilgherries came into being under the auspices of the first Commissioner of the Nilgiris, James Wilkinson Breeks,” says P.J. Vasanthan, a local history enthusiast. The working of this society remains unknown, but it has been recorded that it had held an annual exhibition of flowers, fruits, and vegetables in the Government Gardens and elsewhere, even at the marketplace on occasions, he adds.

The very first event was “against all expectations held [in October of 1869] at Stonehouse and not in the Gardens. It is reported as a well-attended event, presided over by Governor of the Madras Presidency Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier and 1st Baron Ettrick. The society continued to hold such events annually, but these were minor affairs, and the last show to be held was on October 6, 1882. Thereafter, it disappeared from the scene, presumably due to lack of funds,” Mr. Vasanthan says.

Professor Paul Hockings, an anthropologist and editor of the Encyclopedia of the Nilgiri Hills, writes that The Agri-Horticultural Society, as it later came to be known, “is the name of a very old local society. Doubtless inspired by the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India that had been set up in Calcutta in 1820. It was a natural outgrowth of the local botanical gardens that until 1855 was invariably known as the horticultural gardens”, he says. “Between 1869 and 1882, the Society held a number of annual shows of flowers, fruits and vegetables, not only at the Botanical Gardens, but in various other places around Ootacamund, including the marketplace.”

The society seems to have witnessed a downturn in its fortunes between the 1880s and the late 1890s, till a third society was formed, known as the Nilgiri Agri-Horticulture Society in 1896, which continued into the 20th Century, organising the flower show each year. It remains unclear if the first official flower show was conducted in 1896, but it has been established that they were conducted regularly following the founding of the society.

The early shows were meant for showcasing the produce of the hills, sharing experience, and raising funds for research, Mr. Vasanthan says, adding that the exact year when such shows became part of a “flower show” are unclear.