Floral paintings of Lata Mangeshkar, Bhimsen Joshi displayed at Pune flower show

Pune: Flower arrangements in the Japanese art form ‘Ikebana’, a variety of bonsai trees and floral paintings of legendary singers Lata Mangeshkar and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi have been displayed at a flower exhibition in Maharashtra’s Pune city.

The show has been organised at the Empress Botanical Garden from January 25 to 29 and more than 50,000 people have so far visited the place to see the floral extravaganza, the organisers said.

“We hold this flower exhibition every year but due to the COVID pandemic, we could not organise it for the last two years. This year, we managed to organise a big show with nearly 3,000 flowering plants which have been artistically displayed here,” said Suresh Pingle, honorary secretary of the show organiser Agri-Horticultural Society of Western India, a trust founded by Sir John Malcolm, the then governor of Bombay in 1830.

Various flower arrangements made in the Ikebana style, a variety of bonsai trees and floral paintings of musical legends Lata Mangeshkar and Bhimsen Joshi are among the key attractions for visitors, he said.

Floral experts from all over the country have come to participate in the show and various related competitions have been organised on the sidelines of the event, the organisers said.

Smita Kale, a visitor, said she has been coming to the exhibition for the last many years.

“The flower arrangements are very beautiful and unique every year. The arrangement of roses was noteworthy,” she said.

Nishchinta Gokhale, an 83-year-old artist from Nagpur who has set up a stall of floral paintings at the exhibition, said she uses leaves, flowers and petals for her creations which depict various aspects of nature.

“I collect leaves, flowers and petals, let them dry, and using my imagination while making the paintings. I do not use a pencil,” Gokhale said, adding she has been pursuing the hobby for the last 25 years.

The Empress Botanical Garden is spread over 39-acre area in the heart of Pune city. The garden has some of the rare and towering trees along with a dense green foliage and giant climbers.