Hirra Azmat
Srinagar: Spring aka Sonth is here with the scent of flowers hanging light in the breeze. If you have any doubts, take a stroll down Kashmiri Twitterspace where netizens are chronicling the varied flowers in bloom and trivia associated with them.
From the heartthrob Gilgit apricot blooms to subtle primrose, the social media users are celebrating the spirit of the spring season by giving a glimpse of their blossoming gardens.
Junaid Nahvi, a Twitter user said shared the images of Gilgiti czyear (Gilgit Apricot) and Queen Jaapaan (Quince Japonica) with a thought-provoking caption – “A lot of the Kashmiri names for non-indigenous plants are mispronunciations, but that’s how languages develop over time. And I love the mispronunciations more than the “real” names. #kashmir #gardening,” he said.
Similarly, Senior Assistant Professor Department of Botany University of Kashmir Dr. Anzar Khuroo gave a sneak peek from the Kashmir University’s botanical garden, which is spread over 12 acres of land and has well-defined sections of shrubbery, rosary, rockery, bulbous-plant section, rosaceous-plant section, medicinal-plant section, lily pond, protected grassland, and experimental plot (for research purposes).
“Bergenia ciliata (Zakhmae Hayat in Urdu) blooming in Kashmir University Botanical Garden #Kashmir #Himalaya #spring #flora,” he tweeted.
Another Twitterati, Ikhlaq Qadri described his love for spring by capturing the pearly white blossoms in his lawn.
“While Autumn remains the season of my life, the first blooms of Spring always make my heart sing. Spring is a feeling of life. #Ikhiclicks #Ikhicollections #home #Kashmir,” he tweeted.
RJ Nasir too joined the chorus while sharing his favorite houseplants from his balcony. “The first ones to bloom in the month of March. PRIMROSE,” he said.
Spring in Kashmir is a socioeconomically as well as ecologically important season in the Valley. It is both the flowering as well as the sowing season in the region. Approximately 2/3 of the population of the Kashmir Valley is dependent on agriculture and horticulture and the spring season happens to significantly influence the production of agriculture and horticulture in the region.
