Deficient rainfall and warm temperature in Srinagar have forced the closure of Asia's largest tulip garden, which attracted 3.60 lakh visitors this spring, an official said on Monday.
The garden, overlooking the famous Dal Lake, was closed for public on Monday owing to shrinking bloom, garden in-charge Inam Rehman Sofi told PTI.
The garden has been closed as the tulip bloom shrunk after around 26 days.
"We tried our best to extend the bloom, our employees worked very hard and they used to sprinkle water even during the night. But, with deficient rainfall and unusually warm temperature, the bloom started to shrink a bit early,” Mr. Sofi said.
The official said the average lifespan of tulip flowers is three to four weeks, but heavy rains or too much heat can destroy them.
He said while the Floriculture Department had planted tulip bulbs in a phased manner so that the flowers remain in the garden for a month or more, they bloomed simultaneously.
"There are broadly three varieties when it comes to bloom - the early, the mid and the late bloom. However, we had the whole bloom, a majestic one though, at a time because of the weather,” he said.
This year the garden housed 68 varieties of tulips, including six new ones.
He said 3.60 lakh people visited the garden in the less-than-a-month period when it was open. "We had about 1.61 lakh domestic tourists and 159 foreigners as well,” Mr. Sofi said.
Last year, 2.25 lakh people had visited the garden.
