Beautiful Blooms

- Samridhi Goyal

With spring here, everyone can see flowers in bloom bringing happiness and color to the lives of the people around. Nepal too has a growing floriculture business with many nurseries and florists around town. But what are some of the flowers that are grown in the country and what goes into having a blooming garden?  Healthylife finds out.
With winter here, can spring be far behind? – P.B. Shelley once mused.  Finally, spring is here bringing in a new freshness to the air. Even the winds seem to say, “Go get the world”. My favorite part of the season is the flowers; in our culture they hold an important place, from being used as ornaments and hairpieces, being offered to gods as a mark of devotion, being used to express a myriad of emotions such as love, friendship, truce. Even in times of sorrow, flowers express your grief. This month I decided it was time to observe what flowers we have around us.
Though most of the flowers are imported to Nepal there are a few that are commonly cultivated in the country, let’s take a look at a few of them:
1. Marigold?First discovered by the Portuguese in Central America In the 16th century, they are scented flowers that grow from July to September. They are hermaphrodite (having both the male and the female parts). They need damp to wet soil and sunlight for growth.  Use of potash fertilizer while growing is also important. This flower is used in religious ceremonies, as food colouring, as skin ointments and in salads. It brightens up your garden instantly.
2. Chrysanthemum?Translated from Greek, it literally means ‘golden flower’. First­­­ grown in China around the 15th century, they are essentially tropical flowers which are not specific to any season. Suitable for container gardening, they can be propagated through division of roots, cuttings and seeds. They have a flowering period of three months after sowing and fertilization and regular checkups for disease is required for prolonged flowering.
3. Rannaculus?Essentially meaning frog because it grows mostly close to water, it is usually found in bright colours such as red, orange and yellow. Supposed to be poisonous with an acid taste, it is widely used in floral arrangements. It requires well drained soil. Blooming in winters and dormant in summers, the more you cut the flowers the better the bloom.
4.Lantana Camara?Indigenous to Nepal, they are pink and white lantern shaped flowers. They are now being imported to Japan.
5. Rhododendron?This beautiful red colored national flower of Nepal has inspired many songs and fantasies. Sweet in taste, and succulent, many people consume it whole. Accham district of Nepal is one of the places where it grows.
6. Anti rhynum?Also known as dragon flower because of its resemblance to a dragon and how it snaps its mouth shut. It grows in winters at heights and in well drained soils.
7. Despite Kathmandu being such a crowded and busy city, there are quite a few avid gardeners around the city. Healthylife talked to two of them.

Utilisation of Space
This charming lady has stretched the boundaries of age and expectation. Vibha Singh is in her fifties and manages to multitask efficiently. Born in India, she married into an aristocratic family in Nepal. Former Vice- Principal of Modern Indian School, she now runs Nest Furniture. She was also President of Lions Club Nepal and is currently involved with the Rotary.  Apart from that, she is into semi-professional theatre and is a homemaker too.  Growing up, she was surrounded by Licchi gardens and this fuelled her interest in gardening. She had quite some space in the front yard of her house and decided to utilise it as a garden. She says that although she does not get so much time to tend to the garden herself, she makes sure that it is bright, colourful and decent looking.
Her gardener Rajesh Bikram Sijapati  has been with her for the last decade or so and sees to it that the garden is in good shape. Various flowers such as marigold, coropsis, anti-rhynum, lilies, hibiscus and calendula find place in her garden. Once back from the office, she likes to take her evening walk in the garden and sit and relax. That is her de-stressing exercise. Although satisfied with her garden, she feels that the day- to-day logistical issues that every housewife in the country faces takes away time that she would otherwise spend gardening.

A  Gardener at Heart
Mansi Bagaria, CFO at Nimbus Industries, could easily trade her corporate suit for the gardener’s overalls. Brought up in Delhi, she picked up gardening from her grandmother and has a deep love for it. When she moved to Nepal post marriage, it was but natural that she would continue gardening. She has redone the garden n her house to make it bright and cheerful and has also created a small rockery within the garden. A very hands-on gardener, she instructs the gardener how to go about the garden and does some work herself too, which includes buying the fertilizers. People are known to bring back clothes, gadgets and books from their travels but she brings back saplings of flowers and plants for her garden. She says all her staff including the driver have now learnt to do a bit of gardening and can be seen working around. Her beautiful garden has lilies, petunias, orchids, pansies, roses, cosmos and many other plants. She also has cactuses in little pots. She plans the flowers in such a way that there is never a dormant period in the garden. Her enthusiasm for the garden is infectious and I think it rubbed off a little on me too. Among other things she enjoys reading as well. n