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Groom it with passion

Vijaya represents the breed of women who are not satisfied with just good clothes and jewellery, says HARJEET KAUR ALLAGH

ARTIST'S PALETTE Little care can bring beauty to a garden PHOTO: RAJU. V

Gardens, like interiors, tell us a lot about the people living in the house. A few potted plants strewn around or an exceptionally landscaped garden, the interest and taste of the persons involved in grooming it clearly reflect. A wide view angle of the garden in the backyard of Boppanna Nageswara Rao and B. Vijaya's house speaks volumes about the passion and patience of Vijaya.

As is the trend nowadays, the garden starts from the outer boundary itself, with huge shady trees with overhanging branches leaning over the boundary wall and bells and pots dangling from them.

Any garden is incomplete without a patch of lush green grass. A rectangular lawn beside the gate is adorned with an iron-arched entrance lined with pink ixoras and bonsai adeniums growing in flat dishes. The center has a stained glass lampshade on a short pole, placed on a diamond shaped, marble and granite stand. The southeast corner is highlighted with a stone statue of a dancing damsel, surrounded by pots and terracotta figurines of animals. The boundary wall at the far end has ledges on which flat dish planters have bonsais growing in them. A black Labrador in a kennel stands guard to the house in that corner.

Green thumb

Alongside is a tall terracotta pot with the face of a woman engraved on it with two horses and some plants beside it. Umbrella shaped iron frames have vines and creepers of hedera covering them completely, giving it a look of thick bushes. The patio has chimes hanging from the edges, and a unique nameplate in embossed metal with the names engraved in crystals.

Vijaya has a natural green thumb with an affinity for collecting exotic species of rare, yellow, orange, lavender, maroon, magenta and twin coloured orchids. A large collection of different colours and varieties of coleus, dieffenbachia and alocasias' twined around moss sticks are her prized possessions. Most women tend to shop for clothes and jewellery when they travel. But Vijaya likes to pick up plants whenever she sees some exotic blooms.

A businessman by profession, Nageswara Rao likes to read, watch TV in his leisure time, play shuttle and walk in the mornings to keep fit. He likes to socialize with friends. In addition to an over riding passion for gardening, Vijaya loves to paint - fabric and Tanjore. Friends are a major part of her life but she is first a proud homemaker.

Conch-blowing merman

The couple has a son, Hari Needu, an engineer by qualification but a contractor by profession who takes a keen interest in the interiors and planning the garden too. Swapnasri, their daughter is doing PG in general medicine at Manipal.

The highlight or focal point of the garden lies in the space between the two gates. A custom made waterfall in white, with a seated merman blowing a conch with the water flowing from it and collecting in a pool of lotus plants and other water plants. A bust of a woman rests on a terracotta pedastal. Two frogs, one ready to jump and another seated on its haunches, looks warily at a carved wooden image of a crocodile with its teeth bared at the waters' edge.

A couple of turtles amble along slowly, while a horse drawn carriage has a small planter with chlorophytum growing in it. The outer boundary is lined with potted red euphorbia, white button roses, marigolds, orchids and lilies. Palms and a bamboo plant lie behind the merman with a grape vine dangling over it.

A cactus plant with a rose growing out of its globular head is spectacular. The area around the pond is covered with strips of green, yellow and white alternanthera and red amaranthus. "Only people with a strong back with a hinge on it make good gardeners," chuckles Vijaya.

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