Bhubaneswar: On the first Sunday of the year, denizens of the Capital city got the chance to explore and satiate their eyes with a variety of colourful flowers at the popular garden in Raj Bhawan which opened for public Sunday.
Visitors would have the opportunity of basking in the coveted garden up to January 20.
Basant Kumar Padhi, the horticulturist who is engaged in the maintenance of the garden, said the garden has showcased over 40 varieties of flowers including salvia, mandevilla, petunia, safari mix, celosia, sevanthi, lilium, geranium, inca, marigold and roses.
The garden will be open to public from 2pm to 4:30pm daily. Not only fauna but the place also boasts of more than 250 deer.
An open aquarium with ornamental fish is also there to attract the visitors’ eyeballs, Padhi added. This apart, the garden has a plethora of avian beauties including cockatiel, love birds and peacocks.
It may be mentioned here that on the first day a part of the garden was restricted to the public due to security reasons. May be in the coming days we would open that place also, said a security official at the Governor’s house.
People of all age groups, especially students, visited the garden Sunday. “I visited the garden for the first time with my family,’’ said Saipriya Swain. Watching such a rich variety of flowers at one place is dreamlike, she said adding it was like a paradise on earth. “I loved the ambience, the surrounding, free from any noise and litter,” she said.
Sakshi Tripathy opined that it is a rare occasion in the Capital city where we do not have to travel to the outskirts to have a peaceful time, away from the hustle bustle of the city. “I had never seen such variety of flowers at one place. I had always heard about the place but never visited it,” she added.
It is worth mentioning here that Raj Bhavan’s gardens are named after famous personalities like emperors Ashoka and Akbar, Gautam Buddha, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi among others. “It gives the place a distinct identity,” said Chittarnajan Swain, a resident of the city.