The Hindu : Kerala News : Helping hand to maintain garden plants

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Monday, Mar 03, 2008
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Kerala

Helping hand to maintain garden plants

The plants that find mention in the book include rose, orchids, bougainvilla, begonia, lotus, ornamental vegetables and fruits, shoeflower, palms, heliconia, plumeria and cactus.

A book on planting and maintaining two dozen popular plant varieties.

Many people tend to give up, after embarking on an endeavour to create a garden in their homes.

A major reason for this is the lack of skill and knowledge about properly planting and tending to plants. Coming as a helping hand to the novice is ‘Alangarachedical’ (ornamental plants), a book on planting and maintaining two dozen popula r plant varieties. It has been authored by Jacob Varghese Kunthara, lecturer in Botany at the Sacred Heart College, Thevara, Kochi.

He speaks of how ornamental plants and trees add to the charm of a house and the happiness of its inmates.

“I have noted that over time many gardens become unattractive because of the lack of awareness about the methodology that has to be adopted for planting and taking care of the plants. Some believe that it is enough to twice water the plants. Very often, worms and termites infest plants, and this demoralises people.”

In the book, he has written in simple Malayalam, various aspects of maintaining plants, such as the type and quantity of fertilizers and pesticides required, replanting plants, pruning, ways of regeneration and so on.

The plants that find mention in the book include rose, orchids, bougainvilla, begonia, lotus, ornamental vegetables and fruits, shoeflower, palms, heliconia, plumeria and cactus. Indoor plants and lawns too find mention.

Indoor plants

Mr. Kunthara says that indoor plants give the natural look to interiors.

“They soothen the ambience and cleanse the air inside rooms. Evergreen plants such as dieffenbackia, caladium and alocasia are ideal as indoor plants. Plants that have small leaves suit smaller rooms. Once in a while, these plants must be kept for a few days in the sunshine to hasten growth and to spray pesticides on them.”

A chapter has been devoted to the maintenance of lawns, for which most people now depend on gardeners.

John L. Paul

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