a street in Tehran covered with 30,000 tulips,each year
Every year, a man covers the edge of the pavement, planting tulips all along Zarafshan Street in Shahrak-e-Gharb, Tehran, as a memorial to his late mother.
the pavement became a tourist destination with 30,000 tulips.
When you’re passing by the area, you will be drawn in by the scents of the tulips toward North Zarafshan Street.
“My Mother Loved Plants”
37-year-old Houman Ardebili is a GP. Many years ago, he went to the USA to complete his studies in nuclear medicine, but left his course uncompleted and returned to Iran.
This is how he narrates the story of how he started this beautiful idea and why :
“My mother had a great love and passion for plants. She passed away three years ago. I really wanted to do something to keep her memory alive. There were many ideas at first, like cooking food for her or doing something particular during different religious or other festivals. During this time, her love for plants was always in my mind. I wanted to make the idea something that other people could enjoy as well, so I started planting tulips three years ago. The first year there were 6,000 tulips, last year 10,000, and this year I made it 30,000. People really loved the idea.”
“The idea was greeted warmly by the people in the neighborhood, but there were also many people from other places who came here to visit the tulips. Our street was turned into a sort of tourist destination. On Sizdah Be-dar [the thirteenth day of Iranian new year known as Nature Day], for example, nearly 2,000 people came here to visit the tulips and take photos. They all seemed to enjoy it very much. The positive energy of the ambiance infected the visitors, and everyone was very happy.”
He will continue to grow these tulips in memory of her mother years to come! and it's a true story of pure love