The Annandale Garden at the Shimla Hill Station: Photo © Rohit Chhiber

The Annandale Garden at the Shimla Hill Station: Photo © Rohit Chhiber

Once you have cleared your mind of images of over population and dusty roads, what is peeled back is the countries’ fragrant and majestic landscape that can only be India. The landscape revered by Maharajas and Emperors is their creation over the centuries. The landscape is only enhanced by travelers passing through, trading exotic plants and vegetables that found themselves easily transplanted.
While under British rule, the moveable gardens in pots filled pathways and staircases throughout India. There were new additions to gardens that ‘stayed on’ as the British ladies traveled and brought with them their potted flowers to remind them of home.
The flowers and gardens of India are truly, what dreams are made of and simply enchanting.
Northern India brings great surprises in horticulture and cultivation. Not only were the Himalayan
Hill Stations imperative getaways from the oppressive heat of summer from the major cities, they were extremely fertile ground for many flowers and lovely fruits.
In addition, you can easily follow the flower preferences of Emperors and their consorts in the outstanding and detailed miniature paintings that are world-famed. Many of these are on display in the summer palaces in Northern India.
The one repetitive flower that keeps returning on not only the ivory canvases, but also the canvas of their landscape, is the rose.
Cupped in the valleys of the Himalayas, you find roses and more roses growing to enormous sizes. Their size and fragrance is as powerful as the surrounding mountains.
At an elevation of over thirteen thousand feet in the Kullu Valley and six thousand feet at Shimla, the roses see much snow, ice, and frost. The clear air and mountain water is the magic potion making them spectacular. The mountain regions are also home to many underground hot springs, adding important nutrients to the soil.

Rosa Rugosa

You can walk through small and large private rose gardens and gardens surrounding museums, and not to be missed are the historical gardens. The gardeners welcome visitors, talk of their roses, cultivation and prize specimens.
The two major hill stations with an abundance of roses are Shimla and the Kullu Valley. Shimla being the refined ‘Queen’ of hill stations and the Kullu Valley, being harder to reach and much farther north is more rugged.
Annandale, a lovely glen in Shimla is now a public garden. During the spirited days of the Raj, Annandale was the perfect glen and setting for many picnics and outdoor sporting activities. The residents planted many rose bushes in this area and they are there in their ‘hugeness’ to admire to this day.

Blossoms of apricot, apple and pear

The Kullu Valley also has its share of roses, but what are spectacular are the fruit trees in blossom in the spring. There are acres of apricot, apple, and pear in bloom at the same time. The fragrance is intoxicating.

Shimla from Scandal Point © Brian Yardley

The dramatic, surrounding greenery of both of these hill stations is the stately deodar, Cedrus deodara. Deodars are native to the western Himalaya and can grow to enormous heights of over 150 (45m) feet tall. These majestic trees are surrounded the bright pink/purple Rhododendron arboreum, a favorite of the Himalayan ‘Musk’ deer.

The endangered Rhododendron campanulatum.

In this setting, some of the largest and most magnificent roses can be found. Most are not native to India and were brought as gifts or traded, then planted and treasured. One of the only native roses to India is Rosa moschata, the musk rose.
There is another treasure in the Himalaya but it is not as showy as the rose. It is subtle, not easy to propagate and elusive as a yeti. It is the Himalayan Blue Poppy. Any flower that is blue is ‘stand-out’, but a blue poppy is sensational.
The blue poppy seedpods were gathered on a failed attempt at Everest by George Leigh Mallory in 1922. The seedpods made their way to England, there they were propagated by the Royal Horticultural Society and made their debut to the world in 1922. In the 1800’s the ‘Blue’ poppy was noted by a French missionary living in China. The tales of this flower far preceded its beginnings of cultivation. Seeds have been available in the U.S. for a number of years now. Try your hand at growing these flowers at least once. What is odd about them is that they need to be continually damp for excellent growth and maturity. The constant melting snow from the Himalaya is something not easy to replicate! Trying your hand at growing the flower it is worth the journey. Vita Sackville-West said of the Blue Poppy, “it is every gardener’s dream.”
What would India be without pungent aromas of jasmine and marigolds? Jasmine grows throughout India up to an elevation of ten thousand feet. This heady flower provides perfumers with its essential oil and brides with a heavenly garland. Jasmine is one of those very distinct fragrances that is as exciting as it is expensive. The jasmine season in India can go on for up to ten months. Over one hundred varieties are grown, so they have a supply of fresh jasmine all year long. The largest producer of jasmine is the state of Tamil Nadu in the southern most part of India.
Jasmine is native to India. It also takes many forms, such as bush, tree, or vine. It is an important flower for beauty but religious ceremonies as well. It is referred to as the ‘Queen’ of flowers. Not only has jasmine graced the hair of Indian beauties, it has found its way into the teacup. Jasmine tea tastes like … jasmine! It is delightful. The petals of the flower are dried, and then infused with hot water. Like rose water, it is exotic and delicious.
Marigolds are the staple flower of India. They are screechingly bright and fantastic. Natives of Central America, the marigold found its way to India in the 16^th century and has been there ever since. Not only is it used in religious ceremonies, but as garlands for guests, and decoration for vehicles and any celebration.
The Portuguese brought the Marigold to India from their trade route from Central America to Goa, India. The Marigold is one of the most cultivated flowers in all of India, the hub of cultivation being Calcutta. The fields of marigold growing is breathtaking. The shades of yellow are so bright, that when you stand next to them they create a reflection that turns your skin to gold.
The marigold also plays a very important part in the Hindu wedding ceremony. The bride and groom sit and stand under a ‘Mandap,’ a four-poled structure that is laden with garlands of marigolds. The marigolds are strung on very long strings, thousands of them and many hands are needed to make one mandap. The gold flower represents purity and regeneration, as well as happiness and luck. Red and gold are the two main colors in the Hindu wedding ceremony. Marigolds take their proper place surrounding the bride and groom.
The flowers of India are many, but these select flowers are the botanical highlights of India flora-culture and nature. The way a flower in seen in a setting makes that flower incredible for the moment. You can see a rose at a garden center and you can see a rose at the Annandale in Shimla India; they are never quite the same. What you can always take with you is the mental photograph of all of the flowers, and their fragrance that never seems to leave.

Namaste.

Cynthia Gibson has devoted her career to writing, painting, and designing. She is a noted writer, botanical artist, stylist, and lecturer; and has traveled the world extensively for work and for pleasure, from Provence to Beijing. Cynthia authored the acclaimed A Botanical Touch, by Viking-Penguin; she was both author and Illustrator for A Garden of Recipes. She is currently the Editor for Gardening, Food & Cooking for Newport This Week. Original Cynthia Gibson botanical illustrations have been commissioned by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and exhibited in fine arts galleries in New York City and Palm Beach, FL.