JOIN USMeet, greet and swap your plants
Back in the day, when nurseries were few and far between, people used to exchange plant saplings, cuttings and seeds to grow their gardens. That practice is making a comeback in Bengaluru in the form of plant swap groups. Sapplings and seeds to care tips — everything is exchanged free and informally.
On Saturday, Bangalore Plant Swap 2022 will be held off Bannerghatta Main Road. Close to 250 participants have registered, up from 150 in 2021 and 40 in 2020, informs Sumesh Nayak, a corporate professional-cum-avid gardener who ideated this meetup in the first year of the pandemic and co-organised it with Gaurav Jadav. “People are free to bring what they want and take away what they like,” he says.
The Sunday that just went by saw a similar meetup at Kothnur. It was attended by plant lovers who are part of a WhatsApp group, Ragi Kana Sasya Premigalu. Prior to the meetup, they discuss the list of plants they would like to receive or give away. Flowering, fruit, medicinal or foliage varieties, there is no bar.
A Facebook search throws up names of more groups —‘Free Plants & Seeds Exchange Bangalore’, ‘Seed and Plant Swap — South Bangalore’, and ‘Plant Swap for Bangalore Plant Lovers’. Members either courier the saplings and seeds, or meet at a place convenient to them.
Peer support
“A plant you may have killed thrives in other gardens. What is the secret? People ask such questions at the meetup,” shares Sumesh.
Exactly why HR professional Priyanka Rajput joined a Facebook plant swap group last December. “In nurseries, the staff don’t give enough time to explain how to care for plants. They just want to sell. And those plants die soon after we bring them home,” she talks about the advantage of having a peer-to-peer group, which you can ping for pest-control tips, and also celebrate successes like new buds with.
Regina Fernandes, a farmer, used to be on an online plant exchange group. “I did not like the idea of shipping plant cuttings through courier. The carbon footprint concerned me,” she recalls why she initiated Ragi Kana Sasya Premigalu this February with the support of organisers of Ragi Kana, a weekly rural market.
There are more women on these groups — from college-goers to senior citizens.
In search of variety
These groups have on their collective inventory foliage plants, edible greens, succulents or flowers with unique colours that are either not easily found in nurseries or are expensive.
Regina recently collected a cutting of the Multivitamin plant, Chakramuni soppina in Kannada. She was hunting for it for some time. In the latest meetup, she scooped red Oxiles, ground Orchids and a flowering plant called Sougandika Pushpa from Indira Sharma, who runs an NGO. She gave away Hydrangea, Fuchsia, Azalea, Water Lily, yellow Jasmine, Tree Daisy and Plumeria on the day.
For Indira, plant swap groups bring nostalgia: “I have a Parijaat tree in my garden. My aunt gave it to me as a sapling 30 years ago. My Avocado tree was gifted as a sapling by my brother and sister-in-law.”
They are a good backup too, Indira illustrates over a laugh: “My lovely Geraniums and Impatiens rotted away in heavy rains last December. Thankfully, I had given their cuttings to my cousin and they survived the rains. So I asked her to give me cuttings!”
Foliage plants like Monstera, Anthurium and Philodendron are in big demand. Among flowering varieties, Orchid, Hibiscus, Jasmine, Begonia and Hoya are popular. “A variegated Monstera (with white specks) I bought for Rs 500 in 2018 is now selling for Rs 10,000 in some nurseries. If people are ready to spare a cutting of plants that are in demand like this for free, you can get lucky,” he says.
Check out
Bangalore Plant Swap 2022 on April 23, at Greenhouse Design Space, off Bannerghatta Main Road, 10.30 am to 4 pm. Register on Instagram @1500sqft_gardener.
Ragi Kana Sasya Premigalu meetup is held every third Sunday of the month at Sri Ramakrishna Samagra Shikshana Kendra, Kothnur. To join the group, contact 98453 29543