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New garden planning
By Zahrah Nasir
Q. We are moving into our new house soon and are trying to plan our garden. We
are very interested in parrots and plan to plant lemon trees, guava, green
spices etc. to attract them but we have not seen any parrots in the area at all.
Can you advise please?
A. My only suggestion here is that you purchase a small number of parrots from
the market, keep them in a reasonably sized cage, feeding them of course, for a
week o ten days and then start leaving the cage door open so that they are free
to explore their new surroundings. Hopefully they will like what they find and
decide to stay with you but, please remember, beautiful as they are, they do
cause lots of damage to all sorts of plants in a garden, any garden, which may
not make you very popular with your new neighbours!
Q. The area around my new house, i.e. between the wall of the main house and the
boundary wall, is about 4 yards wide and opposite the house windows I cannot
decide if I should plant trees or climbers against the boundary wall where they
will be seen from inside the rooms. Which would be the best?
A. I would recommend that you plant a colourful mixture of foliage climbers,
flowering climbers and fruiting vines against the boundary wall, not trees, as
tree roots, no matter how small the tree, will badly interfere with the
foundations of the boundary wall and may also create problems with under ground
cables, sewerage and water pipes. Try to select a mix of climbers that will give
interest, in one form or another, all the year round.
Q. There is an area of about 100 sq. yds. At the back of our new house where we
plan to make a kitchen/beauty garden. Do you have any ideas please?
A. The recent gardening series ‘The Edible Garden Dream’ which ran in six issues
of ‘The Review’ would be ideal to consult for your requirements but, if you
cannot get hold of this, then make a trip to your local Sunday bazaar or to a
second hand book shop and pick up a few gardening books from overseas as these
should give you lots of good ideas. The books from Australia and South Africa
are those which often have information which is more relevant to gardens in
Karachi than gardening books published in Europe. Sorry I cannot be more precise
but this is difficult without actually seeing the piece of land in question.
Q. I want to plant date palms, the seeds for which I got from dates from Saudi
Arabia. My friend experimented and now has a small, sturdy date palm. Where and
how should I do this?
A. Date stones are very hard things and should be soaked in warm water for 2 – 3
days prior to planting in small pots, individual pots for each date stone is
best, of good compost. The compost should be kept moist at all times in order to
encourage germination. The pots should also be placed in a reasonably sunny
location. Date stones can take up to three months to germinate so be patient
about this. Also, the reason for planting them in individual pots is that date
seedlings do not like being transplanted at all and need to be left undisturbed
for as long as possible. They are also pretty slow growers and by the time they
have outgrown their starter pots they should then be strong enough, and have a
strong enough root system, to alleviate transplanting losses. Alternatively, why
not ask your friend how they went about their successful experiment and follow
in their footsteps?
Q. The neighbours ‘Jaman’ tree hangs over into our driveway and cuts down on
light to our front garden. They have refused to’ do anything about this. What
can we do?
A. You certainly have a problem on your hands with this. In Europe and America
there are laws restricting the height of hedges and trees around an individual
property in a built up area to a maximum of six feet in order to avoid such
problems and any one who breaks these laws is subject to hefty fine.
Unfortunately, as far as I am aware, there are no such laws in Pakistan,
therefore, the only possible course of action is to try to convince your
neighbours to either prune the offending branches themselves or let you do the
job after reaching an amicable agreement. Don’t, whatever you do, take the law
into your own hands as this could result in a long lasting, nasty feud with your
neighbours which could have unfortunate repercussions!
Q. I want to plant a small flowered, white, climbing rose in my garden in
Karachi. Which variety is the best and on which side of the property should it
be placed?
A. ‘Rosa banksiae alba’, a white ‘Banksian’ climbing rose, originating in China
and well adapted to our climate is the best rose variety for your purposes. It
is usually available from nurseries during the late autumn and winter months
which also happen to be the best time for planting. Climbing and rambling up to
20 feet and more, this double flowered variety is much stronger than its yellow
counterpart ‘Rosa banksiae lutea’. A partially shaded, north facing wall is the
best location when growing such a climber in Karachi. If this is not available,
then either a place which gets the morning or evening sun but not the direct
heat of mid-day.
Q. We have just moved house and our new residence is almost obscured underneath
masses of gorgeous bougainvillea. This needs to cut back and got under control.
When is the best time to do this? Our residence is in Karachi.
A. Bougainvillea can be trimmed back at any time of the year but I feel it is
best to avoid periods of very high humidity or rainfall as these could encourage
infection/rot in recently cut branches. As a precautionary measure, you could
seal new cuts with silicone, easily available in tubes from hardware stores, as
this prevents any air-borne infection from getting in to the stems of the shrub.
I have found silicone to be extremely effective in many cases when it has been
necessary to prune/cut, trees/shrubs out of the appropriate season.
Ends.
Pic caps:
1. ‘Rosa banksiae alba’
2. Climbing ‘Tecoma grandiflora’
3. Planning is important.
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