The Lalbagh flower show is the reason I made a last minute change to our itinerary so we could visit Bengaluru sooner than originally planned. It’s held to coincide with India’s Rebublic Day holiday (26 January). It was worth the change of schedule.

It’s held in Lalbagh Botanical Garden that was originally conceived in the eighteenth century under the reign of one of the rulers of the kingdom of Mysore – Hyder Ali. Lalbagh was inspired by the Mughal style and was designed to resemble the paradisiacal gardens mentioned in the Quran. These elegant ideas were transformed into reality using carefully crafted landscapes that included flowing waters and a variety of rare plants imported from Delhi, Multan, and Lahore. 

The 18th and 19th centuries witnessed the occupation of the area by the British. During this transition, the garden developed into a significant arboretum under British governance in 1799. Horticulturists from Britain were amazed at the gardening opportunities offered in Lalbagh, and they started bringing in plants from the far corners of the world. It was an era of trading plants when seeds and trees were brought to grow in the garden from around the world.

During the nineteenth century the glass house was constructed in the centre of the park, said to be inspired by London’s Crystal Palace. The Glasshouse, built in 1889 is made of iron and glass. The metal pillars supporting the Glasshouse have the manufacturer’s mark of Glasgow, and the glass came from Belgian. It provided a refuge to shelter delicate plants from the local weather elements that changed frequently. Now it plays host to the Lalbagh Flower Show.

The flower show is said to have been inspired by the Royal Horticultural Societies great spring show – now known as the Chelsea Flower Show. It’s a little bit like the Chelsea Flower Show from the 1950s or 60s. Whereas Chelsea has evolved into far more naturalistic planning – Lalbagh is most definitely a riot of colours, with flowers arranged like Victorian park carpet bedding displays. This year’s theme pays tribute to the legendary Indian poet Valmiki, with different floral arrangements honouring his work.

It was lovely seeing people taking selfies in front of the flower displays – just like I do at Chelsea. We were also in for a surprise. Vaishakh had been behaving a little odd as we’d entered the park and implied we might be in for a surprise. We were about three quarters around the glass house when we turned around and behind us was Shubhi! We thought she’d already flown back to London so we’re very surprised and delighted to see her. It turned out she’d extended her stay in Bengaluru by a couple of weeks. We wandered through the park together chatting and eating mango with chilli before we said our farewells and set off on our next stage of this mammoth road trip.