1 week Ago By Pearl D'souza
1 2 Bengaluru: It's summer and the city is witnessing a riot of colours. Pink Tabebuia roseas, red gulmohars, bright yellow Tabebuia argenteas or roseas, and purple jacarandas are in full bloom — a sight to behold for motorists and pedestrians alike across the city. Each morning, Krishna D Kattimani, 30, opens the gates to visitors at Benniganahalli Lake, where the surface water is aglow in pink, reflecting the poui trees grown around the waterbody.
Onlookers from trains and also the flyover next to the lake savour the pink marvel as they zoom past. "In Jan, the leaves began to fall, in Feb the buds began breaking. By March, the trees were full of flowers.
There are a good number of locals who come for walks regularly and enjoy the spectacle," said Kattimani. Hussainamma, 18, from Ballari, has come to sweep the walkers' path around the lake. "We sweep a bit and go ahead, and in some time, the leaves and flowers continue to fall, and the process repeats till we wrap up work," she said, taking a break and looking up at the pink canopy.
Elsewhere in the city, Cubbon Park is one big canopy of colours, while Old Airport Road was basking in bright yellow till recently. GKVK and Jnanabharathi are in the pink of health, while Indiranagar's purple jacarandas have residents from the neighbourhood going green with envy. AN Yellappa Reddy, chairman of Lalbagh and Cubbon Park Committee, recalled enhancing the floral landscape in Cubbon Park and Lalbagh with hundreds of varieties of plumerias of multiple colours in 2018.
"They help people with TB. These plants were secured from Puducherry, and you find them in bloom now," he added. Ornamental, but beneficial? While the rows of flowers along the highways or boulevards in residential areas are a lovely sight, Reddy believes they weren't well thought out.
"Usually tenders are called for tree planting, and the contractor selects the plants without consultation with the local horticulture officers. And this process is not correct," he said. "There should be a scheme based on noise, hydrocarbon emissions, etc.
, for planting trees, based on problems that the locality is facing. A report was submitted to BBMP about 15 years ago, but it is not yet implemented. While ornamentally, these flowering plants are good, ecologically they don't have chemical properties like Champaka and others that have volatile oils that kill bacteria that come before summer.
There should be a science to urban tree planting. Even apartment complexes should undertake planting in their premises," he elaborated. He recalled Rudrakshas (Eriocorpus species) also being planted about eight years ago in Cubbon Park and Lalbagh.
"The chemicals they release improve endorphin and oxytocin levels. Brahma Vriksha and several other species were thus added to our parks. We also started a programme, Janakiamma Ethnobotanical Garden, where 8-10 lakh saplings (8-10 feet in height) were planted in all the lands under the custody of the police department for the past three years, and we continue to do that," he said.
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