NATIONAL Kandawgyi Garden in Pyin Oo Lwin will host its third annual flower festival in December, and the event will be expanded to encompass twice the area as last year, said U Mg Chit, the chairman of the garden.

“We haven’t finalised the start date for the festival but it will definitely be in December and last a month like previous years,” he said. “To make it more interesting than ever, we will double the area of the festival and offer other wonderful things for guests.”

He said plans for this year’s festival have been underway since May, and organisers have been planting flowers for the event since July.

“We will need more flowers for this year’s expanded festival,” said Daw Swe Zin Wai, the head of National Kandawgyi Garden’s Administration Department.
“We will also have more flower sculptures, including the most popular ones from previous years,” she said.

She said that about 400,000 flower plants will be displayed this year, with foreign species outnumbering local varieties by a ratio of two to one.

“From the start of this month, the plants in the nursery garden will be moved to the festival areas,” she said.

Ma Shwe Ye Htun, the deputy head of the Garden Department, said this year’s festival will feature more lilies because the flowers “have a sweet scent and are preferred by guests”.

“Last year we ordered lilies and tulips from Germany and Thailand. For tulips, we can reuse the bulbs from last year so we don’t need to order as many this year,” she said.