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| Sunday, 13 July 2003 |
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N'Eliya - where flower power lives on How the Grand Hotel won the 'Best Garden' trophy for 19 consecutive years from Our London Corr Reggie Fernando
When Colombo and other parts of the island become too hot and dusty for comfort, both, those who can afford and cannot afford flee inland towards the lush, cool and breezy hills - especially Nuwara Eliya. Of course visitors to Nuwara Eliya want to poke around in the tiny dark shops that line the high street, sidewalks and the narrow alleyways but indeed, it's the flowers of Nuwara Eliya, the subject of hundreds of articles and more than one poem or song, that is probably responsible for much of the area's drawing power as a holiday destination for Sri Lankans. To encourage the local residents to grow more flowers, the authorities organised a flower show and competition almost two decades ago and both the organisers and growers have never looked back since. The judges for the 'Best Garden' trophy consist of professionals - all volunteers from various disciplines - and every year, the show has been blessed with glorious sun and as the old saying goes "happy is the flower on which the sun shines." If you have visited Nuwara Eliya during the April season you would have realised that all things conspire to make the visit a delight for garden lovers - particularly the Grand Hotel which has annexed the trophy for the 'Best Garden' for the past 19 years consecutively and in the process turning the area into a traffic-stopping flower garden. The hotels dramatic setting on a hillock in Nuwara Eliya's heartland is complemented with its gorgeous gardens on five acres and each flowerbed is very different in character, with a unique blend of hues. The man responsible for this amazing achievement of winning the 'Best Garden' trophy in Nuwara Eliya for 19 years running, is none other than the general manager of the Grand Hotel itself. Hiran de Costa, a former planter ably assisted by the hotel's farm manager and horticulturist S. S. S. Nathan and their team of ten. De Costa got the gardening bug when the hotel won the 'Best Garden' prize in 1983. In an interview with the Sunday Observer, De Costa, a giant of a man who hails from Deniyaya - told his story of how the hotel continued its winning ways for nearly two decades. When asked what it takes to come up with a prize-winning garden for 20 long years - is it a healthy patch of land, vision, money or lots of elbow grease, De Costa simply smiled and said: "All that plus a united effort by all concerned." Reminiscing the past De Costa continued: "We had a gardener called Muttiah when I took up the post of general manager in 1983 and it was he who got me interested in gardening. This fine man passed away five years later and Nathan took over the garden and the number one priority for him and the entire team too was to win the 'Best Garden' trophy at Easter."At the beginning, Muttiah did lot of propagation and budding of plants.
He also collected his own seed as well. However, some years ago I organised to obtain seeds for special varieties of flowers from Thompson and Morgan a well-known firm in England, which is not cheap by any means. We spend a colossal sum of money on these imports. "There are flowers and flowers. We have over 75 to 80 different kinds of flowers and those too in a multitude of varieties. Take for instance the pansies - we have many different types and over 300 varieties of roses," De Costa said. One has to only walk around the hotel's garden and the fragrance of these flowers and those vast Cyprus trees that provide a rare and lovely smell overwhelms Nuwara Eliya during the season. Nuwara Eliya's show connected with flowers has a proud history of displaying the finest horticulture in the country and is hailed by all visitors as a great show. It is hardly surprising that foreign visitors have long held affection for this area. Finally I asked him why the finest flower garden in Nuwara Eliya hasn't come up with a new rose after its name; to which, with a twinkle in his eye, he replied: "That's a good question - it's food for thought. You never know, we may propagate and come up with the Grand Rose of Nuwara Eliya." |
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