I sorely miss my balcony garden in Pune. I was wondering if I should write about my amateurish experience as a gardener and the joys of spending hours staring at leaves and stems.
When I was in school, painting and sketching in particular used to give me a strange pleasure. It was that indefinable joy of creating something beautiful and I would paint, not out of a habit or in order to cultivate a hobby, but just for the joy of it. It was a sort of compulsion which made me feel good about myself. It wasn't forced but natural and free flowing.
I lost that feeling as I grew older and stopped painting (I think the greater pleasure was in sketching and shading and getting those shades of grey right) and lost that passion somewhere. There was no joy in a grey shade anymore.
However gardening seems to have reignited that fire in me. The sheer pleasure of seeing small green sprouts on brown mud is incomparable. And the feel of the perfect soil, just moist enough with enough vermicomposting, light and airy, just right for any kind of plant.
So here's an introduction to some of my green ( and other coloured) friends:
The Wandering Jew - We started with one pot of this and a tulsi plant ( more on this later). The one pot turned into two and then four. It's really amazing how a cutting of it's stem can survive on air and nothing more. It's a highly invasive plant and if you have nothing better to grow then you can easily have ten pots of this sitting in your garden (or the garden floor crawling with this). There are two varieties I've come across and I've seen these very widely used in landscaping. Easy to propagate, just pick one stem and stuff into into some soil!
Tulsi - which I now know has an insane number of varieties. So broadly there are two Ram and Shayam (or Krishna) tulsi, so named based on color discrimination. Ram Tulsi -the greener lighter shaded one and Krishna - the darker variety but it seems there are more - Vana tulsi, Kapoor tulsi and Amrit tulsi. I came across a striking variety outside a temple while driving to Tarkarli. It had huge purple leaves and well developed flowers and the smell, wow, this strong peppery, spicy smell. I stole a few of the flowers for its seeds, but haven't been able identify it nor regrow :D. So this is one plant I'm still discovering even though it's so familiar. I think the one which grew in our house was the Rama tulsi and it grew wild and free. Kept reseeding and giving me a good crop for chai and other consumption.
Water Lily - This was the most rewarding experience I've ever had, bought on a Republic day holiday. We stumbled upon it accidently. We were at a cluster of nurseries enquiring about some plants, when I casually enquired about water plants. This lead us down a dusty path in Aundh village to what appeared to be a "Bhains ka Tabela" transformed into a nursery full of water plants. There were pot upon pot of water lilies, water hyacinths and other aquatic plants. It was like turning around a corner to stumble into a magical kingdom. I was quite sceptical about the prospects but my husband's enthusiasm convinced me to take a cutting home and as advised by the nursery owner we also took ten guppies with us. These help keep the water clear of any mosquitos. In no time the ten had expanded to fifteen and the water lilies were blooming daily. A beautiful self sustaining eco-system had been created. The only maintenance required was to clean out the water once in a while and top it up.
A few things one needs to take care of - the plant needs plenty of sunshine. I've seen it dwindle during winters. So if you have a wide open space with lots of sunshine in your house, great idea to add to small pot there, but do make sure to put in the fish. Also very easy to propagate, you need to reach down to the roots and separate out a section, preferably keep a bud in the section you take out. Then simply plant it in a pot, cover with pebbles and place it in water ( and of course the fish). It's usual to find koi fish with water lilies, but in my humble abode guppies sufficed.
Purple Shamrock - Another one of my favorites. What intrigued me was how frail it looked sitting in a row with it's spindly stalk, purple leaves and contrasting small pink flowers. My heart called out to the delicate plant. But I couldn't have been more mistaken, it's also called the heirloom plant and is known to have been handed down generation to generation living to a 100 plus. What makes it so strong are the small corms it grows from, so even when it goes dormant, one knows it'll bounce back.
The prettiest thing about it, is how it folds up and night like an umbrella and then unfolds during the day. This plant is extremely photosensitive and you need to find the right spot for it so that it gets just enough sunshine. Propagation again is easy through the corms - easy to dig up once the plant is dormant. I think even non dormant plants can be dug up and the corms divided to get two plants.
Orchids - These were beautiful wine colored Dendrobium Phalaenopsis, the most commonly found orchid in flower shops (though usually white and purple or blue dyed flowers).
So what does one do with the orchids you bring home from the nurseries after the flowers begin to fade? This is usually months later since orchid flowers are hardy and long lasting. But once the flowers wilt all that remains is the stalk and a few leaves. However some bit of maintenance will ensure the plant reblooms and gives at least two seasons of blooms in a year.
With orchids it's important that the root system stays healthy and any signs of fungal infection or root rot is dealt with. White spongy roots are usually good and black/brown roots have began to rot. It's best to cut off such roots and retain only the healthy one.
The growing medium is also very important and should be airy and porous. Usually bark, moss, coconut husk is used. In the wild, orchids grow on trees and the roots are aerial taking up moisture directly from the air that's why it is important to use a growing medium which gives the roots enough space to breathe, while also keeping them moist.
Also important to fertilize the orchids once the blooms fall off, I used a fertilizer which needs a foliar application. I did manage to propagate since our orchid developed a couple of keikis (baby orchids). One can choose to leave them on the stalk of the existing orchid or remove it from the mother orchid and plant separately.
Orchids do take a bit of work to look after, but the results are so rewarding that the effort if worth it.
Just reading through my post, there are lots more that need to be listed. And some of the plants need separate posts (including those already listed above). Let me end this post by listing out my other green friends and continue this post later. So here goes:
When I was in school, painting and sketching in particular used to give me a strange pleasure. It was that indefinable joy of creating something beautiful and I would paint, not out of a habit or in order to cultivate a hobby, but just for the joy of it. It was a sort of compulsion which made me feel good about myself. It wasn't forced but natural and free flowing.
I lost that feeling as I grew older and stopped painting (I think the greater pleasure was in sketching and shading and getting those shades of grey right) and lost that passion somewhere. There was no joy in a grey shade anymore.
However gardening seems to have reignited that fire in me. The sheer pleasure of seeing small green sprouts on brown mud is incomparable. And the feel of the perfect soil, just moist enough with enough vermicomposting, light and airy, just right for any kind of plant.
So here's an introduction to some of my green ( and other coloured) friends:
The Wandering Jew - We started with one pot of this and a tulsi plant ( more on this later). The one pot turned into two and then four. It's really amazing how a cutting of it's stem can survive on air and nothing more. It's a highly invasive plant and if you have nothing better to grow then you can easily have ten pots of this sitting in your garden (or the garden floor crawling with this). There are two varieties I've come across and I've seen these very widely used in landscaping. Easy to propagate, just pick one stem and stuff into into some soil!
 |
| Variety 1 (taken from Google) |
 |
| Variety 2 - this is the one we had at home (taken from Google) |
Tulsi - which I now know has an insane number of varieties. So broadly there are two Ram and Shayam (or Krishna) tulsi, so named based on color discrimination. Ram Tulsi -the greener lighter shaded one and Krishna - the darker variety but it seems there are more - Vana tulsi, Kapoor tulsi and Amrit tulsi. I came across a striking variety outside a temple while driving to Tarkarli. It had huge purple leaves and well developed flowers and the smell, wow, this strong peppery, spicy smell. I stole a few of the flowers for its seeds, but haven't been able identify it nor regrow :D. So this is one plant I'm still discovering even though it's so familiar. I think the one which grew in our house was the Rama tulsi and it grew wild and free. Kept reseeding and giving me a good crop for chai and other consumption.
Water Lily - This was the most rewarding experience I've ever had, bought on a Republic day holiday. We stumbled upon it accidently. We were at a cluster of nurseries enquiring about some plants, when I casually enquired about water plants. This lead us down a dusty path in Aundh village to what appeared to be a "Bhains ka Tabela" transformed into a nursery full of water plants. There were pot upon pot of water lilies, water hyacinths and other aquatic plants. It was like turning around a corner to stumble into a magical kingdom. I was quite sceptical about the prospects but my husband's enthusiasm convinced me to take a cutting home and as advised by the nursery owner we also took ten guppies with us. These help keep the water clear of any mosquitos. In no time the ten had expanded to fifteen and the water lilies were blooming daily. A beautiful self sustaining eco-system had been created. The only maintenance required was to clean out the water once in a while and top it up.
 |
| From my balcony |
Purple Shamrock - Another one of my favorites. What intrigued me was how frail it looked sitting in a row with it's spindly stalk, purple leaves and contrasting small pink flowers. My heart called out to the delicate plant. But I couldn't have been more mistaken, it's also called the heirloom plant and is known to have been handed down generation to generation living to a 100 plus. What makes it so strong are the small corms it grows from, so even when it goes dormant, one knows it'll bounce back.
The prettiest thing about it, is how it folds up and night like an umbrella and then unfolds during the day. This plant is extremely photosensitive and you need to find the right spot for it so that it gets just enough sunshine. Propagation again is easy through the corms - easy to dig up once the plant is dormant. I think even non dormant plants can be dug up and the corms divided to get two plants.
 |
| From my balcony - the purple bunch on the right |
Orchids - These were beautiful wine colored Dendrobium Phalaenopsis, the most commonly found orchid in flower shops (though usually white and purple or blue dyed flowers).
So what does one do with the orchids you bring home from the nurseries after the flowers begin to fade? This is usually months later since orchid flowers are hardy and long lasting. But once the flowers wilt all that remains is the stalk and a few leaves. However some bit of maintenance will ensure the plant reblooms and gives at least two seasons of blooms in a year.
With orchids it's important that the root system stays healthy and any signs of fungal infection or root rot is dealt with. White spongy roots are usually good and black/brown roots have began to rot. It's best to cut off such roots and retain only the healthy one.
The growing medium is also very important and should be airy and porous. Usually bark, moss, coconut husk is used. In the wild, orchids grow on trees and the roots are aerial taking up moisture directly from the air that's why it is important to use a growing medium which gives the roots enough space to breathe, while also keeping them moist.
Also important to fertilize the orchids once the blooms fall off, I used a fertilizer which needs a foliar application. I did manage to propagate since our orchid developed a couple of keikis (baby orchids). One can choose to leave them on the stalk of the existing orchid or remove it from the mother orchid and plant separately.
Orchids do take a bit of work to look after, but the results are so rewarding that the effort if worth it.
Just reading through my post, there are lots more that need to be listed. And some of the plants need separate posts (including those already listed above). Let me end this post by listing out my other green friends and continue this post later. So here goes:
- Passion Flower
- Veggies/fruits from kitchen to garden - potatoes, chillies, tomato, pomegranate, lemon , sharifa
- Rain lily
- Gerbera
- Blue plumbago
- African violet
- Kalanchoe
- Pentas
- Vincas
- Marigold
- Portulaca
- Hibiscus
- Rose
- Chrysanthemums
- Adenium
- Gloxinia
- Money Plant ( of course)
- Rajnigandha
- Nargis (failed attempt at flowers)
- Champa
- Kadi patta
