HASSLE FREE GARDENING

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

01/X/2025

We all are crazy about flowers. Not necessarily in growing them, but admiring them for the happiness they generate on the first look.

Most of us from the older generation would remember the poem “Pushp Ki Abhilasha” by Makhan Lal Chaturvedi. He has beautifully expressed a flower’s dream and its last wish.

Today, I wish to highlight the beauty of both flowers and leaves. Their incredible shapes, size, structure, texture, patterns, colours are just mind-blowing. We tend to ignore leaves and stems for flowers.

Imagine, you buy a bouquet. The florist goes about professionally to construct it. He snips and clips the long stems, plucks away leaves. Finally, when he adds some leaves to add some texture to the bouquet. The combination now looks presentable.

He sprays it with a watery mist to enhance the visual appeal. We think he is freshening the flowers but it is to give it a stunning look.

At events and weddings, flowers and leaves are the mainstay. The visual creates a different atmosphere. The speaker on the dais, even if it is a politician looks smarter. Lakhs of rupees worth of flowers and leaves are wasted for that event of half an hour but that is how it is.

Even a single flower can make all the difference. The ‘rose day’ “left outs” know it very well. A single rose which won’t cost more then ten bucks suddenly is so valuable that the vendors charge you a fortune. Lovers buy it at any cost. By chance, “chance lag jaye”.

I have seen one of the biggest flower markets of Mumbai while working there. Never ever could I have imagined to see a train load of flowers. The Dardar market is worth a visit if one is a flower lover. Besides flowers, different kind of leaves arrive there for sale.

Once, I landed up in a reliance facility close to Alibaug. Being with a brother officer who worked with them took me to orchid green house. Where orchids grew on coconut husk. They were supplying flowers for all offices and events of Reliance. The sight was amazing.

The ‘Tulip gardens’ of Kashmir are worth a visit. The ‘rose garden’ of Chandigarh is another marvel. The ‘botanical garden’ of Bangalore is so interesting that one can spend a whole day just admiring what grows there.

There are a few ‘flower seed’ nurseries in Punjab near Nabha and Malerkotla. It is “dekha to ye khawab to ye silsilay hue” moment in spring season. They do not sell flowers but harvest quality seeds. Acres and acres of flowers for anyone and everyone to admire.

Once we landed up in a ‘green house’ in Lonavala. They were harvesting ‘Gerberas’. This flower joins a bouquet without much ado. Standing at a corner, it is difficult to say what those flowers did to your nerves. Even their leaves are so disciplined that one had to clap for them.

Some plants are known for their stems. It might sound a little surprising but I shall mention one. ‘Adeniums’ offer such a view. The beauty of the plant is in its “caudex” or the stem growing above the soil surface. All those who grow them know it, and all those who don’t know about it must google it and see some images.

Now that I am shifting my focus from hibiscus to Adeniums, as I find them easier to grow and handle here in the desert environment, the beauty of their caudex is now getting visible. Their ‘caudexes’ take time to develop.

When you buy them online, these plants are small and underdeveloped. For them to mature and ‘thicken’ it takes time. Alternate is to buy developed plants from nurseries. Adenium flowers are unique. Rightly so, they are called the ‘desert rose’.

Their leaves and flowers come is so many different shapes and sizes that these plants will steal your heart. One can grow them tension free, if watering is controlled and they are kept in maximum sunlight. They survive easily in the desert temperatures without much fuss.

With hardly any manuring and watering required, a novice can grow them easily. Some pruning and clipping, if the plants grow too big. But that too when the season is right. One can shape them as per your garden’s requirement.

A well drained sandy soil is all that it needs to flourish. Repotting every year is not a must. It can be grown in pots or even nursery bags. An occasional check to ascertain if the caudex is getting pulpy. The only enemy of this plant is fungus. Stagnant water is the culprit.

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A new adenium friend has joined our garden. All those who want to enjoy hassle free desert roses in their gardens must try. Will you? I wonder!!!!!!