A customer looks at saplings at a nursery in Panbazar. Picture by UB Photos

Oct. 28: An uncharacteristically warm autumn is betraying the bloom brigade, most of which is refusing to burgeon, deprived of the required touch of chill.

The marigold saplings are holding back their yellow and orange burst at the florists.

Pretty petunia waits for customers with withered leaves. Salvia, phlox and dahlia, which would have taken the place of honour at someone’s garden, are stored in a corner under a shade at nurseries as there is no sight of mist yet.

“We bring the saplings from nurseries in the city and also from Calcutta. We started bringing in saplings of marigold, salvia, phlox, dahlia, verbena, vinca, calendula towards the end of September. Almost a month has passed and we hardly have customers,” Sukumar Das, a florist in Panbazar, said.

People start preparing the bed for seasonal flowers after the chill sets in in the mornings.

This happens normally from mid-September. But this year, the maximum temperature has been hovering around 33 degrees Centigrade till the last week of October.

“Winter flowers like petunia, dahlia are very fragile and cannot stand heat. The day temperature till the end of October is too high and is not favourable for these plants,” florist Mrinal Barman said.

Among the winter flowers, chrysanthemums are the first to arrive and the first to bloom.

“We start bringing chrysanthemum in September. By the end of October these start blooming, if planted on time and the weather is good. As these come in shades like white, pink, orange and others, they are a favourite among our customers,” Barman said.

The florists have started bringing chrysanthemums but there are hardly any takers till the last week of October. The saplings wait but in vain in the corners of the shops.

Deepanjali Sarmah is proud of her green thumb and is eagerly waiting for winter to set in so that the tiny patch in her garden can come alive with marigold, chrysanthemum and dahlia.

She normally starts planting in the first week of October. This year, however, she visited a nursery only today.

“I normally start planting from the first week of October. But this year, first week of October felt like summer. I waited for three weeks but there is hardly any change in the weather so far. It’s already late but I am taking a few saplings of marigold, dahlia and winter vegetables like tomato, cauliflower and others today,” Deepanjali, a resident of Jonali, said.

She has a shade in her terrace, which the homemaker hopes will protect the saplings from the heat till winter sets in.

Those who swear by the nutritional values of spinach and coriander, too, were disappointed.

The weather is yet to reach the favourable temperature for the seeds to germinate and shoots to spear.

“I prepared a bed in the first week of October and had sprinkled some seeds of coriander and spinach but the shoots are yet to appear,” Bikash Hazarika, a former bank employee from Bhangagarh, said.