“Poems are written by fools like me,
But only God can make a garden’s tree.”

Of all the south Indian cities, Bangalore, now renamed Bengalooru, in Karnataka, is perhaps the only city in south India to have a typicsally hill station like climate. However, in the past decade or so, many of Bangalore’s trees have been cut down for the emergence of multi-storied buildings, multiplexes and shopping malls, which has in turn, affected Bangalore’s climate. Global warming, a worldwide phenomenon, is also influencing the City —  the cumulative result of these environmental fiascos being that Bangalore is now slowly losing its cool temperature and with it, its `Garden City’ image. More than being a Garden City, its fame now rests more on it being a city with a heavy influx of outstation citizens who have come to Bangalore to make it their home, as, it, being the `Silicon Valley of India’, is now an important location for Information Technology and software companies.

Flicker of hope

However, there is still a flicker of hope that Bangalore does not completely lose its famed image. This hope lies in the fact that some apartments in Bangalore have associations whose presidents are staunch and avid believers in the environment. Some of these association presidents are eliciting keen interest in urging their residents to do what they can, in their capacity to make their surrounding environs environmentally friendly. Though it can be argued that a swallow does not make a summer, these apartments are rendering first class environmental conditions for their apartment gardens, ably assisted by their apartment residents and capable gardeners. This is a very encouraging sign and if other apartments take a cue from them and follow suit, then an environmentally ameliorated Bangalore can be the result!

Garden homes

‘Garden Homes’ Apartments on Aga Abbas Ali Road in Bangalore is an example of an apartment building where the builders wanted to build an apartment whose central focus would be the garden. Hence, this stately apartment building, which houses flats for 22 families, came into being in 1988, with its present president of Garden Homes Owners Association, Jayanthi Balagopal, having been the main brain behind the landscape garden. Though not a professional landscape garden designer, Jayanthi nevertheless has thought of some pretty aesthetic and innovative ideas for the garden which spans the same length as the driveway of the entire apartment building.

She has appointed a gardener who has expertise in dealing with the needs of both perennial and annual plants. A hardworking and consistent worker, the gardener is full time, who spends his time pruning the plants, trimming the bushes and hedges and watering the plants, knowing the exact amount of water to be sprayed as per the water requirements of each plant.

The gardener is also well-versed in horticulture and knows the seasons when each plant should be planted. For instance, the cassia siamea, cassis spectabilis and the spathodias, with their bell-shaped flowers, are monsoonal flowers, whereas flowers like roses, dahlias, geraniums and lilies, are predominantly summer ones. He is also knowledgeable enough to know that flowers, like the bottlebrush, frangipani, sampinge, bombax, anthurium, begonias, orchids, jasmine and chrysanthemums, are typically suited for Bangalore’s climate and in this way, he makes the garden truly representative of a `Garden City’.

Chalet Apartment, also situated in Bangalore, has as its Chalet Apartment Owners’ Association president, Javed Sheriff, who incidentally also runs a company, Terra Firm.

He is an ardent landscape designer and rather than depend on an outside professional designer, he has designed his own garden, which has an area of 3,300 square feet and is unmatched in its size, height of trees and promotion of natural resources. Some of the trees are more than 32 feet in height and comprise silver oak, coconut, fig, papaya and guava trees. Eager to preserve the Garden City image, Javed reiterates that having a garden in one’s apartment has dual benefits as one can have one’s individual space plus it can also be a venue for outdoor parties. As if to prove this, he has arranged and spaced out an array of comfortable chairs in his garden, which can hence make this venue double up for an outdoor party location.

He reiterates that just like Rome was not built in a day, Bangalore cannot change overnight, but if interested citizens each do their bit, the cumulative effort will snowball into a movement or transformation where everyone is concerned about the importance of preserving the environment. According to him, “It should not be too much trouble if the residents of as many apartments as possible, spare space for gardens and maintain their upkeep”. If, as he said, each person plants a plant or tree, then the end result would be a totally refurbished Bangalore!
Another Bangalorean citizen who ardently wishes that more people have an interest in gardens is R K Sahgal, who is the president of the Raheja Terraces Association. Raheja Terraces, which has a colourful and verdant garden, was built by the apartment builders, the Rahejas, in 1995. Acknowledging that gardens require a lot of care and attention, Sahgal reiterates that the advantages of having a garden are not only decorative but also functional.

“Having greenery all around definitely beautifies one’s surroundings, reduces the temperature and helps in the giving off of oxygen and inhalation of carbon dioxide, which facilitates human beings’ breathing,” he infers.
Sahgal too, has appointed a gardener for the garden, who, apart from trimming hedges, pruning the plants and watering the Bermuda grass, sees to it that care for perennial plants is given priority over the seasonal annual ones. All in all, these three apartments chosen for their gardens, have a major lesson for not only Bangaloreans but everyone, for they prove that in this concrete and glass jungle of modernisation, industrialisation,
westernization and commercialisation, there is still a flicker of hope that the `Garden City’ image of Bangalore can be maintained. For what can be more satisfying than living in a garden home in a `Garden City’?