let's plant trees

“The bees are buzzing in the trees…to make some honey just for me”
…when Baloo the bear hummed these lyrics in the animated classic, The Jungle Book, chances are he was looking at a Pongamia tree in full bloom.

One can see hordes of drunk and dizzy bees buzzing between the sweet scented flowers.

The Pongamia is undoubtedly one of India’s least celebrated, but most deserving flowering trees.

The spent blooms sign off in style by forming a stunning floral carpet under the dense canopy.

don’t throw away those dried leaves and twigs from your garden. they’re worth many times their weight in water and compost. simply use them to cover the area around the plants (also known as ‘mulching’). this has many wonderful benefits and is a real boon for the urban gardener as well as the rural farmer. oh, be sure to tell your ‘maali’ about it. no doubt he’ll look at you like you’ve gone cuckoo, but deep down he knows what you’re talking about. enjoy the summer with less water and more free compost!

featured plant: pongamia tree sapling.

See the feature here.

As summer sets in, threatening all with many months of scorching heat, the Pongamia bursts forth with fresh green cover promising reassuring respite in the months to come. All of Bangalore is glowing green…pongamia green! How we love this tree!

a stunningly beautiful short film.

“How viable are the seeds? Will they sprout even after a year?”
“I guess so…I’ve never tried”

“Will they sprout faster if the seeds are removed from the seed pod?”
“I don’t know…I’ve never tried”

Thus went a conversation between a fellow tree planter and the author. The questions were valid. The answers to which could only be found by actual experimenting. So the author removed the pongamia seeds from a year-old copy of ‘Let’s Plant Trees’.

It was time to find out:
a) if the seeds would still sprout, after a year.
b) if the seeds would sprout faster if removed from the seed pod.

Three seeds were sown with the seedpod intact. One was sown after removing the seed pod.

The seeds with the seedpods showed no signs of stirring from their snug pods.
The seed with the removed seed pod sprouted in less than a week! A record time, compared to the otherwise observed time of many weeks to many months.

Considering that the younger generation thrives on instant gratification, this experiment’s findings is sure to go a long way in reducing frustration levels and increasing the tree cover!

Eureka!