Astonishing decoration of pavilions at the 43rd International Flowers festival in Damascus attract visitors 

Currently,  “Tishreen” Park in Damascus is hosting the 43rd international festival of flowers which kicked off on the 30th of August with the participation of 140 companies including 15 Arab and foreign ones specialized in producing plants, traditional crafts, honey and accessories plus associations concerned with environment.

The 11-day-event, which is organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Damascus Governorate,  includes a wide variety of plants,  flowers and seeds, which compete with each other in the number of features they have amid the spread of nurseries.

Visitors are attracted by the way of displaying exhibits in each pavilion.

Lamia Al-Omari, a mother of three girls, told Syria Times e-newspaper: “ I visit the festival every year because I love flowers and aromatic plants. This year, the method of displaying flowers is amazing. I liked the designs the participants are making to promote their products, and I liked the idea of opening a pavilion for books in this event.”

For his part, Siefedden Nadar, the owner of the “Nadar” nurseries in  Damascus and Tartous governorates, said that he shows out door plants, seeds, cactus and landscaping.

“We have participated in all previous International festivals of Flowers that were held at the “Al-Jahez” Park and the “Sheraton” Hotel and the “Tishreen” park. We have participated in a such event since 40 years ago. This year Arab and regional countries, such as Iraq and Iran and Egypt, are taking part in the event. We exchange experiences with them as we produce hundreds of types of plants.”

He went on to say: “Since 1980, we used to import seeds and saplings from the Netherlands, and we were getting music tapes for boosting plant growth. Now we import baby rose to produce Jori flowers of different colours in one sapling.”

Nadar indicated that one of the plants that he shows this year is Habbet Al-Qedreh.

“ People are still asking about this plant  as it produces seeds that some people put at their houses to bring blessing …We are specialized in producing aromatic plants… We produce and export our products to nearby countries such as Iraq. We also show our products in exhibitions being held in Arab countries,” he concluded.

Assistant Director General of Culture and Information in Baghdad Abdel Moneim Al-Issawi told us: “our participation is not the first in the International Flower Festival in Syria…Our participation in a such event began in 2005.”

He pointed out that the experience of holding flower festivals was transferred to Baghdad in cooperation with the Syrian side, where the 1st festival of Baghdad International Flower was held in 2009.

Al-Issawi added that a flower is a message of love and peace between people…..Such an event is an opportunity to exchange experiences in the agricultural field, and it is also a cultural event that aims to bring happiness to people.”

Since 1973, the annual Damascus International Flower Festival gave Damascenes and visitors alike an opportunity to take in the sights of exotic flowers and plants from all over the world, participate and buy plants, herbal oils, honey and handicrafts.

Before the beginning of the war on Syria [2011], over 250.000 visitors would visit the Tishreen part throughout the one-month- long festival, which had used to include more than a hundred stands from all over the world.

Reported by: Basma Qaddour