KARACHI: Not as fragrant as roses but vibrant and pretty in their own right, the yellow, orange, dark orange and white marigolds were the stars of the show, still pulling the crowds to the Frere Hall gardens as the three-day Marigold Festival 2022 organised by the Parks and Horticulture Department of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) concluded on Sunday.

It being a holiday, there were more people than usual at the festival on its last day. Some were looking to buy marigold plants but were politely informed by the KMC staff that they were not selling their potted flowers. They had only brought them to the gardens for decoration. Still, there were some private nursery stalls that were selling the seasonal flower that blooms usually in early spring.

The horticulture department stated that over 50,000 marigold plants were placed in the gardens for the festival, first of which was held last year.

KMC puts over 50,000 marigold plants on display at Frere Hall

Ayesha Ghayas and her mother Afroza Ghayas got their little potted orange marigold plant for Rs50 only. When asked why they selected orange and not yellow, Ayesha said that she liked the vibrant orange flowers. “They are more vibrant. And buying from here saves me the trouble of planting their seeds. I think the time for that is over already as it should be done around November. Now I’ll just transplant it into our flower bed,” she said.

At another stall, selling seeds, one ran into a family who were all lovers of greenery. Maheen Fasih, the daughter, was looking among the seeds packets until she found lettuce. Asked why she hadn’t bought a marigold plant, she shrugged and smiled. “I guess we have so many trees in our lawn now that they have cut out the sun. And flowers need sunlight,” she explained.

And why did they have so many trees? Both Maheen and her mother Ghazal pointed to the culprit, the dad Fasih Anfas. The family said that they still had a nice little vegetable garden at their place. They had coriander, curry leaves, basil, etc. They also had a custard apple tree, a fig tree and coconut palms. “So no place for marigold or any other flowers for now. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t appreciate the beautiful flowers in the parks or out here,” said the mother in the group.

Akhtar Malik, another visitor, said he had several marigolds growing at his place. “Apart from having medicinal value for skin ailments, the marigold flower also works as a deterrent against other plant infections, particularly mildew. You place marigold pots around your troubled plants and they will get better very soon,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, families were seen relaxing and getting their pictures taken around the greenery. Some youngsters were also seen making vlogs. Some families were enjoying snacks or busy in a friendly game of tag or tape ball cricket. “I live right here, near Cantonment Railway Station,” said Vishal Rajput, a visitor. “I only had today to come here and enjoy with my family as its my off day. But coming here, I realised that there are so many more like me here,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2022