A clipped hedge gives you the
edge
By
Satish Narula
TREATING the garden area outside the
house is as important as the inside within the four
walls. When left unattended, it becomes no-mans land,
inviting garbage, malba and above all noxious
weeds like congress grass etc essentially a weed
of unattended areas.
Most of the residents,
however, in and around Chandigarh are alive to the
culture of decorating the outside as well.But there are
certain dos and donts before you plan the
outside area.
No doubt enclosing an area
outside the four walls of a house is an encroachment, but
development and cleanliness provide many hidden
advantages. Usually the unattended places become resting
places for vendors, passersby and sometimes strangers and
rickshaw-pullers. Such people even use the place for
easing themselves which is not only unhygienic but
embarrassing.
The usual trend is to
cover the area till the edge of the road and then erect a
high hedge. It does provide privacy and keeps the people
at bay, but what about the pedestrians? They have no
pavement left but to walk on the road, sometimes even
with small children, which is dangerous. Whenever you
plan such a garden, leave at least three feet from the
edge of the road.
The second most important
aspect is making a hedge. High hedges, especially outside
the corner houses, restrict the vision and are traffic
hazards. By no means should these be more than two feet
high. A trip for those who enter in the best home
garden competition a clean and clipped hedge
gives you the edge.
While planning the outside
garden, always make a note about the electrical or
telephone wires if these are passing under ground. Do not
plant permanent sort of saplings at or in the near
vicinity of such spots. You never know when the trenches
will be dug to mend a fault, and you will have to lose a
carefully groomed plant. Similarly, avoid concrete
structures, benches, pillars, walls, grills and other
permanent features. At such spots you could make grass
lawn or features with stones-pebbles etc, which are
easily removed and then replaced to give a quick effect.
Whenever you are planning
the outside plantation, stand where you intend to plant
and look up. This is very important, especially when you
are planning to plant a sapling.Keeping the potential
growth and spread of the tree in mind, see if there is
any electrical wire overhead. You will otherwise have
your tree chopped as it grows and in the process you
either completely lose the tree or its charm, if it
happens to be the like of a royal or bottle palm. Never
grow fruit trees at such locations. You may get stones
instead.
The best way to decorating
the outside berm is with the ground cover plants like
duranta (both goldiana and variegated), alternanthras
(various types) iresin and sedums. When supplemented with
stones, pebbles and chips, these can do wonders. The only
thing needed is imagination in making patterns. Such a
planning provides colour to your garden throughout the
year with virtually no recurring expenditure like in case
of seasonal annuals which suffer a gap period too. As an
alternative you could also plan the seasonal annuals.
They are also short-lived..
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