How green does my garden grow?

garden

On the occasion of World Environment Day, greens in Tiruvananthapuram talk about how you can make your garden eco-friendly and why you should do it to sustain life

When green architect Liza Natarajan plans a house, she advises her clients to leave a little space for nature to fill with her choice of plants. “This is one of the best ways to conserve our native plants. In fact, many of our manicured gardens today are quite sterile spaces as there is not much to attract the birds and the bees. They might be pretty to look at but does not provide anything for the soul as there is no attempt to be in sync with our tropical surroundings,” says Liza.

So when she found a soul mate in Jayasree B., they designed a garden with lots of fruit trees and flowering plants. Jayasree did not want her garden to look antiseptic and orderly. “I wanted a living space that would also have space for our trees and plants,” Jayasree explains. Her garden has different kinds of mango, guava, rambutan, and custard apple coexisting with flowering plants, shrubs and bamboo.

Liza feels that instead of merely planting a garden, one should opt for a green garden to ensure that it helps the eco-system. Instead of exotica for our gardens, we should be looking at our native plants for our gardens, she adds.

Thinking on the same lines, environmentalist Anita Sharma remembers how her mother C. Thankam, a botanist and nature lover, was often pulled up by her friends for allowing her garden to have a mind of its own and not have it pruned and manicured. “A few years after my mother passed way, I did an audit of our garden and found over 60 species of plants there. Moreover, nowadays many people come home to pluck Asoka flowers or koovalam leaves as these are plants with medicinal values. These plants used to be present in almost every house till a few decades ago. But now, everyone wants only the flowers but not the plants in their garden,” she points out.

In fact, Anitha and other members of Friends of Trees, a city-based green NGO, had conducted a drive at Vanchiyoor to plant flowering plants and fruit trees to replace the grand old tress that were being cut in the name of development. “If the trees cannot be replaced with other trees, then the best alternative would be flowering shrubs and fruit trees that would ensure that our surroundings do not turn into barren concrete jungles,” she says.

Wildlife photographer Suresh Elamon explains how it does not take much to grow a garden that attracts birds and butterflies. “Flowers that produce nectar such as ‘Krishnakireetom’, Bachelors’ buttons, Marigold, Lantana, periwinkle, Rajamalli, Hibiscus, Pentas, and Zinnia will ensure that your garden has plenty of visitors,” he says.

They point out that a ‘green’ garden does not mean lush lawns or manicured and pruned plants. A green garden is one that sustains nature, living beings and the surroundings.

Award-winning architect T.M. Cyriac points out that ideally gardens should be a way to link a house to the exteriors. He says Kerala does not have a tradition of the orderly laid out gardens of the Mughals or the Europeans but we had our sacred ‘kavus’ that were left undisturbed, without any of the plants or trees being cleared. He feels that we have to find a way to integrate that philosophy into our gardens instead of blindly attempting to recreate something that is not in tune with our climate and surroundings.

A well-planned garden with native plants grows into a naturally green garden that gives pleasure along with a sustainable future for the planet.

Go natural

* Ashokam, Parijatham, Pavizhamalli, Bitter ash, Rajamalli, Mickey mouse plant, Orange jasmine, Pagoda plant, Yellow bell, Mandaram are some of the plants that attract birds and bees.

* Bird bath or a water body, no matter how small, is sure to attract many winged visitors.

* Reduce the size of your lawn and replace with shrubs and all-season ornamental grasses. Also, go for grass that does not drink water.

Choose plants that are native to our climate and soil. They need less water and effort to grow.

Compost waste and use it as fertilizer.

Shun chemical pesticides.

 
 
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