In the era of growing urbanization and dwindling greenery, this retired army couple from city is working hard to retain green space. A resident of Keval Vihar, near GTB Nagar, Lieutenant Colonel (Rt.) Paramjeet Kaur has turned the terrace area of her house into a beautiful flower bed. While she grows and maintains the green cover at her house, her husband, Colonel (Rt.) Resham Singh Sandhu supports her by bringing suitable pesticides and pots. He keeps on visiting nurseries to get varieties of plants.
Once you enter their rooftop, the fragrances of flowers, the aura, the entire ambience is something that takes you to another world. “Today, taking care of their garden has become their full-time job”, they said adding that they would rather do this than anything else. While Kaur has been working at ECHS polyclinic after taking a premature retirement, she spends two hours daily with her flowers and keeps a regular check on their maintenance.
On their 1000 sq ft terrace, they are growing over 100 varieties of seasonal flowers in over 500 flower pots and they say, “When you like a flower, you pluck it. But, when you love it, you water it daily and let it flourish,”
The couple’s deep passion for growing plants, consistent efforts, and dedication helped them to raise their entire house into a nursery. Kaur feels it a pleasurable and rewarding job. Even at the entrance of their house, the blooming marigold and other imported plants are a delightful sight.
It’s been ten years since Paramjeet has been following her passion for gardening and when in the army she had also received the best garden prize several times in the cities they were posted in. “I came across very exotic flowers. After looking it up online, I learnt that it was a white exotic lily. By this time, I had an entire list of flowers I wanted to grow such as Daffodils, Asiatic lilies, gladiola, frangipani and more. I bought a few saplings from local nurseries and ordered a few online. I buy 30-40 new plants every year and grow many on many own though cutting and stemming methods”, added Paramjeet.
Besides, the pots are placed close to each other so space is never an issue to them. The pots are kept in a systematic manner, with enough space for them to walk alongside or sit and have a cup of tea in such a stress buster ambience. Her flower bed needs a lot of care and attention, so she keeps on reading about the climate and caution needed to cultivate a particular variety of plants. Apart from pots, she has used discarded cups and jugs to grow cactus. “Autumn and spring are the only two season when flowers boom and I place them accordingly. After every two months, I change the position of the pots and check which plants and sun-loving and which need moisture”, said, Kaur.
Hyacinth, gazania, daisy dahlia, ashwagandha, chrysanthemum, ranunculus, freezia, marigold, nearly 10 varieties of roses, eight varieties of cactus are among the different kinds of flowers at her house. Besides, she grows green veggies and various seasonal fruits. As her son is settled in England she says when she returns, she makes a separate package of gardening stuff.