GARDENING

Step into Bewli’s villa in Sector 36 and calm and serene ambience extends a warm welcome. It’s mundane exteriors and unadorned doorway won’t hint you about artistic treasure trapped in it. It’s owner Brig Bewli, the director, Survey of India, who is also the president of National Cactus and Succulent Society of India has a passion for traveling and picking up the most exotic flora round the globe.
As you walk down the cobbled pathway, you can see a well-maintained backyard teaming with plant life. From Japanese maple, Chinese elm, South African euphrasia and Howarthia to Indonesian carmona macrophylla, he has over 500 plant species. Amidst well-pruned bonsais and succulents, miniature earthen horses and bells look explicitly beautiful.
BrigBewli says, “One needs knowledge of horticulture techniques and creativity to pursue such obsession.” He has eight to 12 years old plants. He has named a few bonsai arrangements like forest, Antarctic. Brig Bewli’s favourite one is the arrangement is Antarctica that has black rocks from Antarctica that he has personally. While wife Amarjeet Kaur relishes fruits of miniature kachnar – Paracantha.
“I have brought up all these plants in my own hands.” Amarjeet adds, “The way he is engrossed with greenery I prefer not to interfere.” That’s her perfect way of supporting him.
But she can’t help complaining about Brig Bewli’s green rage. Whenever they escape for a holiday retreat, she wants to shop around the malls. Somehow, even in an alien city hubby manages to find people mad about gardening. On top of it, whether his new friends like it or not, Brig Bewli will scissor their plants and guide them on plant up keeping. On this, Brig Bewli says, “Unheathy plants upset me.” Be it Bangalore’s Lal Bag or Calcutta Botanical garden, he has tipped gardeners all over. After a small walk across the beautiful green patch at Bewli villa we headed towards his drawing room.
The moment you step in, a life size carved starfish, hung on white plastered wall, will steal your attention. Look down and Greb, an aquatic bird with prominent beak, resting along with camel and six-feet dinosaur are staring at you. Now turn around and you will find snakes climbing the wall.
Amarjeet Kaur told ToC that artifacts have also been carved by Brig Bewli. This master of varied traits is inspired by nature. At 54, CS Bewli says, “Passion knows no age.” Be it gardening or carving, he wants to know A to Z about it. He had been scarping the masterpieces with sharp glass himself.
After screening through the wooden marvels, we move to his terrace where succulents are safely housed on wrought iron stand. Some plants are waiting in shade to grow. Then, they will be exposed to direct sunlight.
Passionate CS Bewli feels that there is not sufficient space in one kanal house. While Amarjeet thanks God that after staying on second floor of a flat they have been blessed with own house.


BONSAI

Pursuing a hobby is considered to be the best way to beat hectic urbane lifestyle. And it’s all the more great if you are indulging in the living art form, Bonsai. Countering the space limitations, it offers a respite to man’s desire to stay close to nature by replicating the beauty of mature trees and landscape to narrow confines.
With the spurt in flat-accommodation in green and clean Chandigarh, the bonsai culture is gaining popular. Among a total of 200 members of Bonsai Club (India) 100 are from the tricity itself.
Using twisted wires and pruning skills on roots, trunk and branches, the practitioners of Bonsai art create visual delights like cascading Bougainvilleas, shaping it near to it’s natural mold. Lot of hard work and patience goes into it. Over a span of two-three years, as the plant matures into a full bonsai, bearing flowers. “The creator experiences immense joy similar to that of a parent feels when his baby starts walking,” says horticulture expert and landscape artiste Anil Kaushik. He is the one to initiate the Bonsai Club six years back. He calls Bonsai the art of re-creating nature as miniature.
Kaushik says, “Man’s innate creativity has evolved and honed various forms of art which include landscaping and making of Bonsai.”
Starting with the abc of growing bonsai making, the club imparts training to amateurs. Weekly meeting are held where the members bring their bonsais to practically discuss the problems. Kaushik says, “Any person with some basic knowledge of plants and aesthetic sense can make the beautiful living art form. But it requires lot of patience.”
Tips on bonsai:
Plants with small leaves and woody trunk, makes good bonsai.
Use a proper shallow container. Its depth should be as much as the thickness of the trunk.
Trunk should flare at the base and taper gradually from base to apex, giving the aged looks.
There should be more foliage behind the trunk than in front to give it greater depth.
Tree should never lean back, and should bow forward.

WINTER GARDENING
Anything to feast eyes on greenery! To see fresh green leaves or tiny leaves coming out of stalks in fog Chandigarhians love to dare gardening in this piercing winter. With lush green garden and vibrant flowers decking the lawns, gardening makes as a popular hobby.
As in winter you risk frost, it's time to bring in some of the non-hardy plants so that they can over winter indoors. But before you start digging up your plants and plunking them in pots in front of your window first get geared up with the best winter garden fertilizer, compost. An avid gardener who has been taking care of green patches round the city for more than a decade, Ramesh Chauhan says, “Compost provides minerals to the plant. Avoid putting too much artificial nitrogen fertilizer, as it will increase the plant growth. This new growth is very much affected when the temperature goes down.”
Chauhan quips, “Choose vigorously growing, healthy plants to bring inside. Dig them up carefully, get as much of the root mass as possible. Place the plant in a good size pot with ample of soil.” Older leaves of most garden plants turn yellow as they're moved inside. “Prune them,” gardener Ramesh suggests, “it will encourage fresh leaves to shoot out.” Moderate watering is required, but not more than once a week in this chill. “Over watering can act as the harsh killer of houseplants so test the soil before you water,” he adds.
And, beware of bugs! Indoor plants are more prone to bugs, as plants hide unwanted stowaways when brought in. “While plants are outside, pests are controlled by natural biological controls but as soon as you bring them indoors. Check all leaves. If it looks like you have some insect activity, spray pesticides, especially underside.”
Know, for potted plants, make sure to lift them out of the pot and check for slugs. Flick them out before you place your plant back.

CACTUS SHOW
Spikiness and structural marvel beauty of cactus carved in perfect symmetry aesthetically inspires a connoisseur. None other plant, besides cactus, has the distinction to thrive in faulty ecosystem, be it barren lands, uneven hillocks, snow clad mountain, arid deserted valleys and gorges, hyper saline lagoons or stinking marshy lands.
To celebrate the variety of over 65 genus of cacti, the National Cactus and Succulent Society of India and HUDA organised 28th Annual Show of Cactus and Other Succulent Plants.
Out of around 1600 magnificent entries competing for prickly contest, judges, a majority of who were industrialists, decided to award chairperson Ravi Lal’s plants as both the ‘Queen of the show and Best flowering succulent’ and president Brig CS Bewli’s green-baby as ‘King of the show.’ Each sub-categories like mammillaria, rebutia, ariocarpus, parodia and notocactus announced its own separate winners.
Nurseries across India: Nanital, Kalingpong and Patiala, displayed exotic colourful cacti assortment, nominally priced at Rs 25 onwards, at the spiny show in Lajpat Rai Bhawan. One of the members, Mrs Popli said that years back when I first visited the succulent exhibition, I had fallen for the thorny marvel. So, she decided to become member of the society.

Delay of four days in holding the Annual Chrysanthemum Show has come as a blow to the participants as it has lowered their chances of winning in various categories. Most of the participants are blaming the Municipal Corporation for sacrificing the interests of the growers `to accommodate chief guests.’’
OP Sood, an authority on the subject, a seasoned judge at various flower shows and first in the city to organise Chrysanthemum show in 1964 says,`` The Chrysanthemum show should be on first Sunday of December because that is the time when these flowers peak. Considering the fact that if centre of the flower blooms, it gets disqualified from the show, lot of participants are going to get disappointed with changed schedule of the show.’’
The delay by a few days has dampened the spirit of some avid participants since after toiling hard and sweating over nurturing the beautiful chrysanthemums for months, they believe a week’s delay can affect their chances of winning in the show. The delay comes in wake of President’s visit to the city on December 9 for High Court’s Golden Jubilee Celeberations.
Horticulture inspector, Manu Singh of Chandigarh Housing Board that has grown over 900 flowering grafts, is bothered about the results, due to the postponement of the show. “Through horticulture we can adjust the flowering period by a week or fortnight. As the date of competition was announced much in advance, a fortnight ago we kicked off all preparations. But with the delay, 50 per cent plantations will be in no state to compete, especially, double-ball and spider chrysanthemums,” he says.
To make every plant blossom at its best on D-day, the gardener takes extra care and moves in a phased manner. He increases watering frequency, keep plants in direct sunlight and adds fertilizers.
Industrialist Varinder Sharma who loves nurturing flower-beds, agrees that the delay is bad for the participant but not for public. After winning the king of the show in 1999 at the national level, he has been included in the panel of judges at the national platter, but he continues to compete at his home ground every year. “A lot goes into cultivating the flower king – chrysanthemum. We were all set to move forward. The unexpected delay could have adverse effects. Few plants may start withering by December 12, the judgement day of the show.”
However, some are more optimistic like Neeraj Pasricha from the Regional Institute of Cooperative Management. “Preparations are on in full swing. With experience and wisdom, we have mastered the art of gardening. Some beautiful flowers will be tainted but a few days change in schedule will not have much of an effect.”