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Oases of peace
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Hyderabad has discovered a new way to nirvana, says DEEPA ALEXANDER
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WORLD ENVIRONMENT Day brings with it many unanswered questions on the future of this planet. But far from the minutes of the Kyoto Protocol and Rio Summit, Hyderabad seems to have found a method in this madness, a way of declaring truce with nature.
It is not that Hyderabadis love man the less. It is just that they love nature more. Naturally it follows that their gardens do not strive for the manmade symmetrical beauty of pleasing flower bushes. They strive to bring down the vast unpredictability of nature itself into a few square feet of space.
With complete representations of hills, water and of course the tranquillity that makes open green spaces so welcome. Look around and even in the midst of a scorching day the city is green as far as the eye can see. Private gardens, traffic islands, corporate lobbies with container plants - all designed to quieten the mind, not stimulate the senses as regular tropical gardens tend to. Little wonder then that these havens of peace are fast springing up in nooks and corners of the bustling twin cities.
An antidote to high stress urban life, enchanted gardens take us back to our earliest nature hinting at a time of innocence. And the generation that grew up listening to the Beatles sing I'd like to be under the sea, in an Octopus garden, is making hanging around plants a status symbol. From the trailing leaves of the money plant, most favoured by the urban dweller to the rich heritage of spacious home gardens, tree-lined avenues with a multitude of flowering trees interspersed with canopy trees and city parks, Hyderabad is as pretty as a technicolour postcard.
The Army's green thumbs are legendary - from potted palms in brass planters to the Andhra sub-area's award winning Garden Centre, the only one of its kind in the cantonment.
The Commanding Officer of the Station Workshop EME, Col. N. Audiseshaiah, also its chairman says, "The centre is not just a nursery. We have our own garden with 700 metres of walking path and this pollution free area is thrown open to civilians as well."
The dynamic officer in charge of the centre, Capt. Vaishali Bhati says, "Even with plants priced at Rs. 5, our monthly turnover is easily Rs. 20,000. Walkers thronging our garden also patronise our nursery and those who came to exercise have now turned avid gardeners."
The city is teeming with nurseries whose owners trade their greenery for green bucks. The variety of plants available is Edenesque. Says M.M. Hussain, MD of Plants Land (Ph. 23412788) and vice-chairman of the Hyderabad Nurseries Consortium, "So what if Hyderabad's climate is unsuitable for plants? Accessibility is the key and people will do anything to get that rare plant. Gardens were always in fashion in this city of the Nizams but now at parties, it's more fashionable to display your knowledge on gardening and the plants you have than your holiday destination.
One of our clients gets distressed every time someone walks on his prized lawns wearing heels! So much is the involvement with his garden."
About the consortium, Hussain says, "We are trying to make gardening a service oriented industry. Dispensing horticultural advice gets more people interested. There is now more awareness because of active green brigades and liberalisation has placed the middle class on the same plank as the elite at least as far as gardens are concerned." When you buy plants at any of the 110 nurseries that are registered with the consortium, you are gifted a catalogue that showcases information on potted, garden and seasonal plants and shrubs, ground covers and creepers.
Too caught up with work but still want to have a garden? Look at the greener side of things. The green-blooded types like Sham Raj Yadav of Bhavani Nursery (Ph. 24757176) and Sridhar of Shivraj Nursery (Ph. 24752227) will do the spadeful. In the business for nearly 70 years, both are into landscaping and maintenance of gardens.
"We harden ornamental plants to adapt to the city's climate, so that when the client takes over from us they do not die. We have been maintaining Gun Park and the Lake View guesthouses. We have also designed roof gardens and charge a nominal amount for plants leased out to Motorola, Amway and 15 banks. We water and change these plants so that these places always look pleasant," says Yadav.
And then there are the converts. Archana, who is a customer relations officer at a bank says, "Every day I used to admire my neighbour's Morning Glory sprawled all over the wall. She gave me a cutting and that was the beginning. Now I have nearly 60 varieties of plants and I love spending time with them. It's a change from my irate customers."
Even a small apartment springs to life with potted greenery carefully tended.
Corsages bloom through grills cheering many a passer by. Whether it is for spiritual, medicinal or aromatherapy purposes or doing your bit for the environment, there is exercise and much sanity to be derived from a garden patch.
And the pleasure of watching your soul bloom.
Verdant nooks
IF A garden flowering in gay abandon is not possible as you live in an apartment, it is still not difficult to indulge your green thumb.
If your balcony is small and you also have to accommodate a clothesline, then choose plants that are short like varied crotons and ferns. Float a few pygmy lilies in a deep terracotta uruli with a few guppies thrown in. The fish will love to nibble at the roots, will keep the mosquito larvae out and add effect to the cream shaded flowers. You might even find Thumbelina floating on a lily pad!
String up a few baskets of purple hearts and mother-in-law's tongue. Petunia's, Bizzy Lizzy and the Four O' Clock plant are great flowering favourites. They need plenty of morning sunshine.
The yellow and Buddha bamboos are good for feng shui and need plenty of water and sunshine. Money plants need little sunlight and can be grown in pots with moss sticks or in bottles and stay evergreen and brighten kitchen counters.
If you like a kitchen patch try your hand at coriander, curry leaves and aloe vera. The latter especially is multi-purpose - it serves as medicine for burns, smoothens cracked heels, is a moisturiser and keeps out mosquitoes.
Most balcony plants should be exposed to the morning sun and if your apartment is your dream house then your balcony can be your imaginative corner.
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