Delhi has a spring in its step

NEW DELHI: Languid lunches at the city's carefully-landscaped roundabouts on Ashoka Road; picnic at Lodhi Gardens and Nehru Park; a line-up of outdoor music, food and literature festivals; and central Delhi lit up by flowers in boisterous pinks, yellows, reds, and purples. All this can only mean one thing: spring is finally here.
The pleasant halfway zone between a harsh winter and an unforgiving summer, spring is the time when the capital looks its best.On Shanti Path, leafy nasturtiums spill over from the sidewalks as the flowers' yellows and reds dot the road. Matthew Circle, the roundabout on the Akbar Road-Tughlaq Road crossing is a flower lover's delight. It has rows of yellow poppies bordered by purple aster flowers. Fiery orange Marigold Inca, some the size of an average palm, bloom among tiny dog flowers in pinks. Red petunias and yellow-purple violas lined with tiny white stock flowers complete the colourful picture.
There is something new for nature lovers as well-three new theme gardens across the road from INA Market. These are the fragrance garden, planted with rajnigandha and chameli flowers among others; the canna garden, full of large canna flowers in different colours; and the rose garden, which has just started flowering now. These three gardens were inaugurated only last March and this is a fresh batch of flowers blooming in them.
The wetter than usual spring may "confuse" some trees though they will be largely "unfussed", suggests environmentalist Pradip Krishen. Trees, he says, belong to two categories, one whose lives are regulated by environmental cues and the second which sync with the duration of daylight or darkness. "Expect lots of the trees that normally bloom in early spring-such as our kachnar and palash-to remain largely unaffected. So too with all the trees that don't begin to flower until late April or May-trees such as the amaltas and gulmohur and Moulmein rosewood. I expect a lot of 'confusion' with trees such as the golden tabebuia and perhaps even our native barnas," says Krishen.
"We take extra care of the flower colour combinations. These were planted back in October and have started blooming now. Some of these, like petunias and violas, will last until the end of April, after which the summer plants will come in. The coreopsis are particularly long-lasting and will be around well into summer," says J P Sharma, one of the two directors of horticulture at NDMC, which has 50 of the city's roundabouts under it. The Teen Murti roundabout, which has a World War-I memorial, is among the best kept with pruned hedges closing off row upon vibrant row of dianthuses, clarkias, roses, and more.
No wonder then, that one can see many more people out and about at these spots than usual. There is a lot more to do than just bum around. The culturally-conscious can take their pick from the many outdoor events that take place at this time of the year. "It's a much cooler spring than we had anticipated. The weather is pleasant, and it is beautifully colourful outdoors. There couldn't be a better time to organize our food festival," say Aditi Kapoor and Ruchi Sibal, organizers of the New Delhi Palate Fest Mini.
With spring in the air, can poetry be far behind? Penguin's 2015 Spring Fever gets underway on Saturday where poets such as Gulzar will be the main attraction.
At Nehru Park, which recently hosted a flower show, and is host to a food and a music festival this season, is in a burst of flowers as well. When TOI visited, visitors posed against the remains of the show-a peacock and an elephant made out of flowers-to get their pictures clicked. While these will be removed as and when the installations begin to wilt, there is much more to see in the garden, like a viola patch in the shape of a butterfly, or a spot of silver dust plant that quite nearly shines in the sunlight. The city has certainly got a spring in its step.
Tree-spotting in Delhi
For the capital's tree-spotters, environmentalist Pradip Krishen recommends the Samadhi gardens. "The best place to go looking for trees in Delhi at this time? Oh undoubtedly the Samadhi gardens, a whole series of planted spaces strung out along the Ring Road stretching from Rajghat northwards to Shanti Vana," says Krishen, author of Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide and Jungle Trees of Central India.