Floral darlings of Malnad

HOME GROWN

Ganesh Hegde describes the wonderful kitchen garden culture in the Malnad region, elaborating on the popular choice of flowering plants

Of all the things you can spot in the Malnad region, kitchen gardens are the most common sight. People, especially rural women, are ardent flower lovers here.

Flowers are normally planted a few days before the start of monsoon and during the rainy season. Roses, dahlia, chrysanthemum and gerbera are the most popular varieties grown. Many homemakers spend at least a couple of hours every day watering and looking after them.

Some have specialised in grafting, a plant regeneration method, to get the desired variety. Nirmala Hegde of Bhairumbe village in Sirsi taluk has more than 20 grafted rose plants in her kitchen garden. She selects the bud of the desired variety and grafts it to the previously grown wild variety of rose plant. The mother plant is a fast growing variety which bears white flowers. “Grafting is the best option to grow different varieties in a short period,” she opines.

Keriya Gouda of Kadkod village, who grows many varieties of vegetables and a few varieties of flowers, says, “Kitchen gardening is a very healthy habit. It gives the much needed physical exercise and mental  pleasure.” He also earns money by selling vegetables and flowers in the local market.

Queen of the monsoon

Dahlia, colloquially called as dere hoovu, is a popular flower during the showers. It is mainly grown by propagating tubers. The tubers are stored by mixing them with dry loose soil in plastic bags. As the rainy season arrives, farmyard manure, burnt soil and wood ash (boodi) are added to the plastic bags and placed in the outside garden.

Some homemakers plant the tubers in raised soil bed in rows; others grow them in plastic bags. There is no money invested on these bags because the cattle feed they purchase is usually packed in these kinds of plastic bags. As the rains arrive, the plants start growing and reach the flowering stage in about one-and-a-half months.

Farmyard manure or cow dung slurry is regularly fed to the plants. The growing plants need solid support as the stem is very weak and cannot bear the weight of the plant. The plants are also propagated by small shoots growing by the side of the main plant and by fully-grown branches. If rains are good, August to October is the blooming season.

Srikant Hegde of Kadbal village in Sirsi taluk is a great fan of dahlia flowers. He has more than 70 varieties of dahlia planted in front of his house. Jamakhana patte, mangal, dots, bekkina kannu, gentige kaddi, mandara, arishina dish, kamala, beetroot, sagara, sanje kaddi, aedi kaalu, cricket ball, kesri kotte lilliput, kesri kaddi, benki kaddi etc are a few varieties of dahlia named locally, based on looks and flowering patterns. Requiring high humidity to blossom, it is an ideal flower plant to grow in high rainfall areas like the Western Ghats.

Another popular flower that is grown is the chrysanthemum. It is propagated using saplings. It is usually grown in plastic bags and plastic or earthen pots. Though it blooms round the year, the best blooms occur from monsoon to winter.

Second favourite

Just like dahlia, it has several varieties that are locally known by names like binjalu kaalu, kempu kaddi, bakke sole, sagar, jenu goodu, button, benki kaddi, hosabale etc. The blooming season is also similar to that of dahlia, extending mainly from June to November.

However, the unfortunate part is that the climate change has an adverse impact on kitchen gardens. Like for example, the unfortunate drought this year cost them dearly.

“Due to very less rainfall this year, the flowering season became very short and the grown plants did not bear flowers as they normally do during good rains,” Srikant explains. Similar is the case with chrysanthemum. For roses, a major problem is that of shade. In the absence of enough sunshine, it will not bear many flowers. The stem too will not grow sturdy. Such circumstances pose challenges to those who are seriously involved in kitchen gardening.

But thankfully, there is now a platform for flower lovers to exchange varieties in Sirsi under the umbrella of Mathru Mandali of Shree Swarnavalli Mutt, Sonda. This organisation arranges Dere Mela a few times during the rainy season.

“This is the third year that we are arranging this in Sirsi. The response is overwhelming. People from distant villages bring their special varieties of flower plants here. It is an occasion for all flower enthusiasts to gather, exchange and purchase them,” says Veda Hegde, a leader at Mathru Mandali. One can get a handsome income from the sale of these also. Each plant of dahlia is priced between Rs 80 and Rs 150.

As I visited one such Dere Mela at the Totagars’ Co-Operative Sales Society compound in Sirsi, I could see people of all ages, mostly women from both rural and urban areas, flock to the exhibition and exchange ideas about the intricacies of gardening.

There were various dahlia plants ready to bloom, tubers of them, cuttings ready to plant, chrysanthemum plants, gerbera etc. While commercial gains were the highlight of the exhibition, one could also not help but appreciate the open-minded exchange of ideas on the art of kitchen gardening.