The garden is her living room…
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Meet Vasumathi Raghunath who has bagged awards for her tiny garden 12 times in a row, says RANJANI GOVIND
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— PHOTOS: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.
The big, green collection: You name it, Vasumathi Raghunath has it in her garden.
Decades ago, I brought several plant-cuttings from Nasik and denied myself drinking water as I had to feed my green babies in the scorching train journey, says the passionate garden lover Vasumathi Raghunath, who proudly takes you across her green collection that even sports a rare variety of Carolina Jasmine from the U.S.
“Every other kind of Indian Jasmine too — Sooji mallige, Rama Bana, Mulle, Iruvantige, Gundu mallige and Nitya mallige — spreads a distinct aroma when I sit in the shade here,” she says. It is 12 times in a row now that she has bagged the Best Prize for ‘Small Ornamental Garden’ given by the Lalbagh Horticulture Society in the Home Garden Category. “The experts at Lalbagh say it is for my collection maintained healthily in a small home plot,” explains Vasumathi.
Creepers, shrubs
Her 70 x 60 plot on Police Station Road in Basavanagudi, covered more than half by her variety green garden, is in a sense dense and closely packed with trees, creepers, shrubs, flowering plants, cacti, succulents and ornamental plants. That she has managed to bring in a small pathway, a rocky and pebbled water cascade, some hangings, creepers and variety palms and a tiny carpet of lawn area to lend aesthetics to the space is a wonder that speaks of her taste for an assortment fare. A miscellany of plants and shrubs, a medley of the flowering range and a mixture of trees and stunning range of ornamentals are what makes up her nearly five decades of effort. “My garden has 500 varieties with 350 being ornamentals. Roses from 70 pots on my terrace add to the visual delight,” she says. Even as she talks of Kanigle, Nandyabatlu, and Parijatha that have been with her for decades, it is her fondness for Saugandhika, a yellow-and-white marvel, that makes her recall the famed legend of Bheema giving the flower to Draupadi. “The cacti Brahma Kamala that I have flowers in summer!” she says in all enthusiasm. Neem, coconut, plantain, guava, pomegranate, passion fruit, sapota…she has everything along with medicinals such as tulsi, doddapatre, maraga, dhavana and turmeric and aromatics.
If her plumaria bags a few glances for the healthy growth, her 45-year-old magnolia and 70 year-old Kanigle hog the attention from visitors, she says.
“As a child I was used to an estate life in Salem with lots of green,” says Vasumathi. “I don’t remember my grandma buying vegetables, everything was home grown and that is how my passion was innate.”
Rolling trophy
How many hours does she spend outdoors? “I have no idea…day-in and day-out I am consumed with my green hobby and only hard work can bring trophies, isn’t it?” she says. It is no wonder that Vasumathi won the Rolling Trophy for 2007 in August last year from Lalbagh Horticulture Society.
Perhaps being a musician too helps her plants retain a sheen as her house reverberates with Carnatic melodies with students walking in for classes. “I do believe my music has helped the green, but nature and music are both close to God,” believes Vasumathi. “If you’re the type to consider being happy always, the positive vibrations by themselves help growth in every manner,” is her strong belief, for, she trusts her thorny cacti just as she does her colourful bougainvillea that spreads a splash of cheerful magenta in her garden!
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