A dash of green

The Association of People with Disability (APD) is hosting a plant fair, a ten-day sale of exotic ornamental and medicinal plants and herbs at its Horticultural Training Centre, Kyalasanahalli. The centre has turned into a beautiful garden with lush green plants welcoming the visitors.

More than 350 varieties of plants with a wide range of exotic flowering, medicinal, ornamental plants, herbs, garden artifacts, and bonsai are on display.

The fair will be on till February 22. This year, the APD has around 60 varieties of medicinal plants including tulsi, sage, celery, chives, parsley, lavender, basil, garlic, rose mary, mint, aloe vera, lemon grass, honeysuckle and melica which can cure insomnia.

Kiran, a sales member,  points out that flowering and medicinal plants are high in demand this year. The minimum cost of a plant starts from Rs 5.

The fair also offers gardening tools, organic manures, artifacts, saplings, mud and ceramic pots, and everything related to gardening. With just three days into the fest, APD saw around 350 people visiting the fair.

Meena,a regular customer at plant fair says, “It is hard to find certain medicinal plants and the one that is available in the market could be infected with pesticides. An annual fest like this will help people buy genuine and organic plants which can be further nurtured at home.”

The fair offers plants nurtured and grown by the disabled at the APD centres. Around 55 people and 18 staff are involved in making the fair a grand success. The APD provides various programmes on comprehensive rehabilitation of disabled people.

They are engaged in providing and facilitating all relevant support to people with disability. This ranges from therapeutic services, mobility aids, counselling, education, career guidance, training and livelihood.

“This is the first time I have been part of gardening and I’m very happy doing this. We have all worked for nine hours a day to organise such a lavish fair. It has given me immense happiness,” says Nagaraj, a trainee.

The centre also has an orchid green room, which is the brainchild of APD’s founder — NS Hema.

All the proceeds from this event will go towards funding training, education, mobility aids and meals of the trainees.  APD Horticulture Training Centre is located near Dattatreya Temple, Doddagubbi Road, Kothanur Post, Kyalasanahalli.   For details, call 9945429500 or 9481426601.