Have a blooming weekend with Lincoln, Jawahar and Elizabeth at Delhi’s Mughal Gardens

The iconic Mughal Gardens at Rashtrapati Bhavan will open for the public from Sunday. The beautiful lawns — comprising the spiritual garden, herbal garden, bonsai garden and musical garden — will remain open from February 5 to March 12 (except on Mondays which are maintenance days) between 9.30 am and 4 pm.

President Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the garden, as part of Udyanotsav on February 4. A Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said that entry and exit for people will be from Gate number 35 of the President’s Estate, close to where North Avenue meets Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Spread over 15 acres, the garden is inspired from the Mughal Gardens in Jammu and Kashmir and the gardens around the Taj Mahal. Mukherjee enjoys morning walks here.

The gardens at Rashtrapati Bhavan have more than 150 rose varieties, a few named after famous personalities such as Abraham Lincoln, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Mother Teresa and Queen Elizabeth.

Apart from roses, tulips, Asiatic lilies, daffodils, and hyacinth adorn the garden. There are more than seventy varieties of seasonal flowers including exotic bulbous and winter flowering plants. The garden also grows 60 types of bougainvillea.

“Visitors are requested not to bring any water bottles, briefcases, handbags/ladies purses, cameras, radios, transistors, boxes, umbrellas, and eatables. Such articles, if any, will have to be deposited at the entry point,” the statement said.

It added that arrangements for drinking water, toilets, first aid/medical facility and rest rooms for senior citizens, women and children will be provided.

There will be special visiting days too as the gardens will open exclusively on March 10 for farmers, differently abled people, defence/paramilitary forces and Delhi Police personnel.

They can visit the gardens on the designated day between 9.30 am and 4 pm and the entry will be through gate number 35.

“The tactile garden will be open for visually impaired people on March 10 from 11 am to 4 pm and the entry can be made from gate number 12, situated on Church Road (next to North Avenue),” it said.