THE VALLEY OF FLOWERS-(TEXT)

THE VALLEY OF FLOWERS

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-IV

In the hills of Uttaranchal there is a place where there are flowers everywhere. This place is called the ‘Valley ofFlowers’.

 Valley of Flowers National Park is an Indian national park, located in West Himalaya, in the state of Uttarakhand and is known for its meadows of endemic alpine flowers and the variety of flora.

Valley of Flowers is located 300 Kms North of Rishikesh, near Badrinath. You need to Travel by Road till Govindghat and from there the trek to Valley of Flowers starts. Govindghat is 20 Kms before Badrinath. Till Govidghat there is a motor-able Road. Rishiksh is 6 Hours Drive from New Delhi, India.

Location of Valley of Flowers

Valley of flowers is located in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand India. This is remotely located and it takes minimum 3 days to reach Valley of flowers from Haridwar. The last motor-able point is Govindghat.

You can check our trek itinerary page for more day wise information. It is around 500 km from New Delhi and 300 km from Haridwar. You can check our page on how to reach valley of flowers, we have given distances between important points and time required between them, different modes of transportation available to reach Valley of Flowers.

Opening and Closing dates of Valley of Flowers. Valley of flowers opens on 1st June every year and closes on 4th October, but the valley remained closed for public in 2013 after the floods in June 2013 till 4th October, 2014 as the trek between Ghangaria and Valley ofFlowers was damaged.

It was reconstructed by September, 2014 and valley was opened for public for 6 days from 4th October to 9th October, 2014. You can visit out best time to visit valley of flowers page to know what will be best time among these four months of accessibility of the valley.

In some places, one sees red flowers blooming on bushes, while in others one finds white flowers peeping out between the stones. There are wide areas carpeted with the brightest yellow flowers.

And suddenly, elsewhere, blue flowers shining like tiny stars between the grass. All this seems like a beautiful dream, doesn’t it? Yes, because like a dream these flowers bloom only for a few weeks in the year.

Now you were just left counting, weren’t you? Are there any things in your house which have designs of flowers made on them – like clothes, sheets, vases, etc.? Here is a floral design in the box below.

The design in the picture is called ‘Madhubani’. It is a very old form of folk art. Do you know why it is called Madhubani? There is a district in Bihar called Madhubani.

Here, during festivals and happy occasions, the walls of the houses and their courtyards are painted with such pictures. These paintings are made out of paste of powdered rice in which colour has been mixed. The colours used in Madhubani painting are very special too.

To make them, indigo (Neel), turmeric (Haldi), colours from flowers and trees, etc., are used.  paintings show human beings, animals, trees, flowers, birds, fish and many other animals.

Blooming buds!

You must have seen buds on the plants. If there are any flower bearing plants growing near your school or home, look carefully at their buds.

So many uses!

Flowers are even eaten!

What are the different ways we use flowers in our daily life? Do you know that flowers can be eaten as well? Manyflowers are cooked as vegetables.

In Uttar Pradesh, Firoza and Nilima enjoy eating a vegetable made of kachnar flowers.

In Kerala, Yamini wants her mother to cook her a vegetable made of banana flowers.Mamta and Omar who are from Maharashtra love pakoras made of sahjan flowers.

Colours from flowers:

Colours are made from many flowers like marigolds, zenia, etc.

These colours can also be used to dye cloth.

The Kannauj district in Uttar Pradesh is famous for Itr. Truckloads of flowers are brought from neighbouring areas for this purpose.Itr, rose water, Kewra water are prepared from flowers here. Thousands of people in Kannauj are engaged in this work.

Of course, if there are so many uses of flowers, then we need lots and lots of flowers. Flowers are grown in many places. Imagine fields full of flowers extending for miles together! How beautiful!

Let us all visit the….What will you find there?
Himalayan Blue Poppy, Daisies, White, Yellow, Calendula, Lily,
Purple, Dianthus, Asters, Strawberry Flowers, Brahma Kamal  Or Bethlehem,  Pansies.

Let us study at some common flowers  around us…..

Zinnia, Cactus flowers,lily,  Marigold, Hibiscus, Shoe Flower, Periwinkle,Vinca Rosa, Datura, Night Blooming Cereus, Night Jasmine Flowers, Water Lily, rose, Jasmine, Magnolia, Bottle Brush, Neel Kamal.

Let us study at shapes of different  flowers:

Bell shaped, Funnel, Trumpet-shaped, Tube-like= tubular,Urn-shaped or pot-shaped, , Saucer- shaped. Star-shaped, Bowl-shaped, Cross-shaped, Lipped flowers.

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA