A mix of vertical garden & Punjabi culture

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 22

This house in JP Nagar has become a landmark location because of its unique style of plantation. When owner of the house, Jasreen Kaur, got it constructed around two years ago, she had it in mind that she should have a garden, which would impart it a completely different façade.

“I searched a lot. I surfed the Net, made some enquiries and finally made up my mind. I went for a vertical garden, which now covers two frontal sides of our corner house. I hired a Jammu-based designer for fixing all the attachments, perforated pots, plates and do some initial plantations. Though it involved a good initial investment, but now I feel that the concept has been much appreciated by the onlookers. People have begun calling our house ‘paudhian wala ghar’ (meaning house with plantation),” said Jasreen, who is a government schoolteacher.

Though the house has some little garden space within and outside the boundary wall, Jasreen tells that through the vertical garden concept, she has been able to raise as many as 1,900 plants, mostly short bushy evergreen varieties and creepers – wandering jew and jade without using an inch of space.

“Metal attachments have fixed all detachable pots along the outer walls of the house. There is no hassle at all when it comes to watering plants. Within four to five minutes, all the plants get watered through drip irrigation. I just have to switch on a tap, supervise randomly if all the plants have got enough water and switch it off. As soon as this process gets over, I can feel some coolness in the outer area of my house as perhaps the walls also get sprinkled with water leading to dissipation of the heat.”

Jasreen takes us to the room of her twin daughters ¬- Jazel Nandan and Jazika Nandan - and draws the blinds to show natural light and view of foliage from windows. “We put flowering plants in the pots visible on the vertical walls through this window. It brightens up their room,” she beams.

Jasreen’s lawn area within the boundary wall is special. She has given a touch of Punjabi culture to it. “We have got the walls thatched with mud to give it a look of rural Punjab. We have put up cots and enjoy the evening breeze lying down here. We also have fixed some Punjabi artefacts on the walls, including hand fans, small charpoys amd sieves. We do barbecue in this section of our house and our friends like to sit out here and have fun,” she said.