NDMC steps in to save vertical gardens from thieves, city heat
NEWDELHI: Rattled by large-scale premature death of ornamental plants and the theft of pots from vertical garden racks, installed to make the city greener, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is now replacing these delicate plants with more hardy ones.
While the NDMC has blamed the high summer temperatures for the death of plants, experts blamed plant selection, poor maintenance and small sized pots, which restrict the plant’s growth.
“Delhi summers are extremely dry and hot and it is very difficult for plants to survive, especially if they are not watered regularly. The experience has taught us to change pots more frequently in summer than the usual twice every month. Also, instances of people stealing pots have prompted us to replace ornamental plants with more hardy, succulent varieties,” a senior NDMC official said.
Even though succulent plants such as jade are not as colourful or attractive as the ornamental ones, they need less water and can survive the scorching heat, the official said.
The agency is also contemplating hiring caretakers to stop people from stealing the pots. Experts said decorative plants are not just costly but not suited to the city’s weather.
CR Babu, who heads the Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystem, said the civic agencies are merely focusing on the ‘aesthetics’ of vertical gardens and selecting saplings without studying their dust and pollution trapping qualities.
“Officials need to do a proper study about the kind of plants that can grow in Delhi’s weather. They should choose plants with larger leaves that can trap dust easily. Also, the pots are so small that they hardly contain any soil or manure to aid the plant’s growth,” he said.
Arif Ali, emeritus professor, department of biosciences at Jamia Millia Islamia, said the authorities should select more native varieties and also ensure proper maintenance.
“Even native grass would make a vertical garden look beautiful, if maintained properly. If the officials think that maintaining ornamental or nonnative plants is tough, then they should go for native varieties such as Ficus pumila (a flowering plant of the mulberry family), stramonium (Datura) and vernonia. Even creepers such as Ipomea will grow well,” he said.
The NDMC’S experience has forced the South Delhi Municipal Corporation to plan their vertical garden initiative properly.
The south civic agency will start developing vertical gardens at 11 flyovers from July-end and finish it by September-end. These included flyovers at Andrew Ganj, Lajpat Nagar, Sarai Kale Khan and Nizamuddin.
“Instead of installing plastic pots, which are costly and more conspicuous than the plants, we have decided to install pots made of iron mesh, measuring 1 foot X 1 foot. Inside this, a big bag (made of environment friendly fabric) will be stuffed with coco peat, manure and other material. These bags will help us plant more saplings compared to plastic pots. The roots would also get more space,” a senior official of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation said.
These new form of vertical gardens will have integrated water supply through a dripping system, to ensure regular supply.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation and NDMC are also finalising proposals to develop vertical gardens at Rani Jhasi flyover and the AIIMS flyover.