Golden shower trees bloom near the airport road at Forest Park and (right) gulmohar tress bloom along the Jayadev Vihar-Nandankanan stretch in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, May 10: Blooming krushna chuda (gulmohar) and sunari (golden shower) trees on both sides of major roads in the city are a sight for sore eyes in the extremely hot and humid weather.

Apart from these two trees, which are most commonly found by roads and the avenues here, other popular trees such as radha chuda, godibana (a deep red version of gulmohar) and patuli dot the skyline and parks.

“Spring is here, but despite the humidity and rise in the day temperature, the colourful flowers are acting as stress busters. Some stretches such as Chandrasekharpur-Jayadev Vihar, Patrapada to Ainginia (both the sides of NH-5), AG Square to Governor’s House and Gopabandhu Square, Capital Hospital to Airport Square, Khandagiri to Pokhariput and parts of the Sachivalay Marg are getting more colourful,’’ said Bijay Kumar Mishra, a city resident and environmentalist.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) Jayanta Kumar Das said: “Though the gulmohar, golden shower trees and other similar flowering species remain in bloom for three months, the stability of gulmohar is not encouraging. Though the tree remains laden with flowers, it cannot withstand a wind speed of more than 60kmph.’’

Trees such as radha chuda and patuli are stronger and the planters are supporting their inclusion in the avenue plantation exercise. In the past four years, the city has added nearly 12 lakh saplings during various plantation programmes. But the number of gulmohar and golden shower trees are less than 30,000.

The DFO, however, said the forest department was planning to introduce the trees with colourful flowers by roads that are less wide and have lengths of up to 1-2km.

“We are also planning to alternate the colours of the flowers so that they catch the eye of people passing through the stretch. If someone is passing through the Jayadev Vihar-Nandankanan stretch, only gulmohar may be boring, but if golden shower trees are also planted, the combined effect will be more beautiful. Patuli can also be added,’’ said the forest official. Vickey Parida, a Class VIII student of DAV School, Pokhariput, felt that plantation of more varieties of trees with bright colours would attract more students to identify the flowers. They would also be interested to know about the plant species.

Pradyumna Panda, a resident of Rajendra Vihar near the airport square, said: “A stretch near our residential complex has become so beautiful with golden shower trees that people have started identifying the locality with the flowers. It is an interesting development in a city where tree-felling has become an everyday affair.’’