The art of going green at home and office
|
While Bangalore has hundreds of nurseries to propagate greenery, some striking concepts at Goodwill Blooming give it a prominent stamp, says RANJANI GOVIND
|
— Photos: Bhagya Prakash K.
VARIETY BLOOM: Goodwill Blooming, the garden centre, has an impressive outdoor plant area with green sundries and accessories.
Garden requires a lot of water and most of it is in the form of perspiration, said the quotation expert Lou Erikson, obviously a green lover too. Green campaigners believe the embryonic love for flora and fauna gradually progresses into an overpowering passion, pushing one to indulge in the magnificence for a lifetime. This is exactly the story of Supreeth Chandrashekar, MD of the recently launched garden centre, ‘Goodwill Blooming’, within Palace Grounds in Ba
ngalore.
“The green bug bit me even as I was growing up amidst the lush shrubbery of Srirangapatna in Mysore,” says Supreeth, a mechanical engineer who went on to get an MBA in Health Administration from the Georgia State University in Atlanta. “My father, Dr. Chandrashekar, retired as the Superintendent of Lady Bowring Hospital and I perhaps got my green gene from my ancestors who were farmers,” quips the garden man.
Good ambience
Going around the 60,000 sq. ft. of the one-stop-shop green concept put together by Supreeth along with his partner Niranjan Uchil, one finds that everything — from an average home gardener’s tools to giant commercial office concepts in landscaping — can be obtained at the sprawling open air boutique. As huge black elephants in terracotta, Japanese pagodas and stone artefacts welcome you, the walkway bridge and the cool pool with huge riverbed stones more than speak of the natural splendour.
It is the created overall ambience that throws a green feel…variety pots of humungous sizes in mud and the little ones in ceramic, pebbles of different hues, the dwarfed beauties of the bonsai section, the colourful greenery of the seasonal shrubs and plants of the all-year-rounds, the gentle sail of the lotus and papyrus in water, the array of pine wood and wrought iron furniture and of course the garden implements!
“It took me years of research and hands-on experience to bring in this international concept to India,” claims Supreeth.
Goodwill has 40 people who are into the organised business, and has an in-house farm in Devanahalli where new varieties of plants from across the world are chosen to grow.
Purifiers
“Although Bangalore and other cities in India had a green sense for residences and the cityscape, the generous inclusion of plants and landscaping into each one’s lifestyle is a perception that is catching on in dwellings, commercial areas and MNCs only since a few years. Plants can purify the ambience and even carpet-toxins are minimised with green spreads. Although it sounds like a primary school lesson, the concepts have to be promoted and taught to the people to bring in awareness at home and in offices,” feels Supreeth.
The fund of green knowledge is brought out when we step into every area of the garden space. Recycling theories are abundant when you hear Supreeth and Niranjan speak about the stone tumbling plants in Rajasthan and Karnataka where waste marble pieces are re-used to get curved pebbles used as aesthetic enhancers in gardens. Roughened waste rock pieces from Kunigal are shapeless but augment the green art, and their terracotta range of plant holders and artefacts are designed in-house.
Water bodies there don’t necessary mean costly fountains but earthy equivalents in mud-brimming urns that spring gurgling water.
Step into their nursery and ask how Hydrangeas have so many hues and pat comes the comment: “The colours depend on the soil, and the alkalinity and pH value change the shades.”
Most Indian varieties of indoor and outdoor plants and shrubs are available even as 45 medicinal varieties and other Chinese, American, Indonesian and Thailand assortment make up for the international inclusions.
Rare inclusions
Atypical concepts are seen in their coir fibre hanging pots while their balcony planters for apartments are a godsend for green enthusiasts with space constraints. You want to go on a holiday and still have the plants watered regularly? Their automated watering technology with fancy valves and timers will do the job for you.
Goodwill Blooming propagates only organic manure with neem, cow dung and vermin-compost making up the medium, although occasional sprays for delicate variety of flowers are not ruled out. Mosquitoes are controlled only with oils from lemon grass and citronella.
Current concepts
There are about 250 nurseries in and around Bangalore and Lalbagh is one of the biggest nurseries propagating greenery.
How is Goodwill different from all these? “Ours is a green business done with international concepts. It is professional enough to include tags, instructions and care tips on every plant. We have concepts that are current in international markets. Whether it’s a small site, a huge bungalow or MNCs, our tools, media and design ideas will make up the goodwill that we have to disseminate,” says Supreeth.
Green wishes, absolutely.
(Goodwill Blooming, Bangalore Palace Compound, Jayamahal Road. Ph: 41121849 / 65676908)
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Property Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
