I was waiting for this tree to flower profusely. It made me wait for 12 years! Its light fragrance is filling up my home as delicately as the wind has been blowing for the past couple of days. And the fragrance transported me to my childhood lanes…
Interesting facts about this tree – interestingly it is also called Indian Cork Tree! … Name given by Britishers! When the Britishers started brewing alcohol in India, they used to get the corks from England to seal bottles. They started looking out for Indian trees which could fulfil their need. They found Akash Neem’s bark and wood to be as soft as the cork back home. So they started using this tree. The tree lost its Native name ‘‘आकाश नीम’’ and got a new name “Cork Tree”!… Then we started translating the Cork tree into our local languages and started calling this tree ‘‘बुच का पेड़’’
I had got 2 saplings from my home state and planted them here 12 years back. Back home, it generally flowers from late Monsoon through Autumn. The flowers have formati-on similar to tube roses, fragrance like jasmines and have long stems.
So obviously, they are offered to Gods during Navaratri. By Deepawali, the flowering season used to be over.
But here, I’m finding its peak flowering season as November-December. It has been flowering for the past 4,5 years but not this profusely.
Another fond memory of these flowers- the flowers fall to the ground like Harsingar flowers. In monsoon days, the naturally washed flowers fall on clean, moist ground which makes them last fresh for a longer time.
The flowers can be knitted into a garland without using a needle or thread… As I posted a picture.
So while walking to school, we used to pick up flowers from under the tree and knit garlands all the way till we reached school. At school, either they were offered Gods photos or our favourite lady teachers who used to adorn them in their hair fondly!
Generally, the tree needs moist air and good rains to flourish, and I rarely remember seeing the tree in this part. But in DLF-2, a road is named as आकाश नीम मार्ग that gave me hope that this tree must have been surviving here before the urban trees made their colonies here.
My wait for 12 years taught me so much…
• The tree can survive in this dry weather
• It can take extreme temperatures from 0-50 deg
• The flowering age delays though
• The flowering season is also delayed… taking it to December
• Fragrance and the size of the flower is reduced ( compared to my home state )
And yes I’m so happy! I had planned 2 of them, and both survived. But only 1 is flowering so profusely which has free space and ample sunlight to grow. The other one is thin and flowering much much much lesser.
Happy gardening!
