Green Explorer
Delhi is a riot of colourful parks, roundabouts, and personal gardens in the winter months. After coming from Bombay and settling in Delhi, I wanted to have all the winter flowers in my garden as well. Hence, this interest in growing flowers started. I grow winter flowers mostly from seeds that I collect around mid-March. The flowers that I love growing are larkspur, cineraria, phlox, brachicoma, lineria, clarkia, poppy, hollyhocks, carnations, marigolds, and dog flowers. We plant seeds in the second week of October, and the seedlings are ready by mid-November. My maali, Virender, is equally interested and puts in a lot of time and effort. We prepare the soil with vermicompost, neem khali and leaf manure prepared in Shanti Niketan. The beds & gamlas are prepared with this mixture, and the saplings are planted into them when 2-3 inches high. By the third week of January, the buds appear, and soon after, the blooms arrive. They give such joy, and I’m full of gratitude to the Creator for this abundance of beauty.
