Naina creates most creative city garden without buying flowers

“I don’t buy plants. I share with friends and family. If my daughter buys plants, she propagates them and shares them with me,” she tells BDLife.

In a city that is fast being taken over by skyscrapers and cabro or terrazzo paved outdoors, fresh air from Naina’s tall, palm trees and the cool breeze from her swimming pool surrounded by anthuriums and potted bougainvillaeas catch us off guard.

Her 15-year-old white house facing a river is an eye-catcher, standing akin to an isolated masterpiece in a fairyland.

Set on 0.6 acres of land, her home has plants and flowers of all kinds, from the ubiquitous desert rose to the must-have anthurium. Her garden is purely tropical.

Creating and maintaining such a garden is an expensive business and a labour of love. You have to think about how to design it, where to get the plants, how to care for them once they are firmly rooted in the ground, and how to mourn and move on when they die after you have poured your heart and soul into them.

For Naina, it is her choice of plants that have worked for her.

“I don’t have any exotic plants that I have bought from abroad. Since the garden is too big, I usually choose plants that don’t require too much care and, of course, those that don’t need too much water,” says Anju, “My choice of plants is influenced by the amount of care the plant needs.”

This garden of splendour and colour was not easy to create. It has taken 32 years, aided by the various hats she wears.

“I started flower arranging in 1992. When we moved to Nairobi in 1996, I became an active member of the Kenya Floral Arrangement Club. I have been a member of the flower club since 1977,” she says.

“Before we built this house, the land already had some plants, like some palms. Some were cut. Most of the plants I have planted over the years,” she says.

A life member of the Kenya Horticulture Society, Anju is also a professional demonstrator and a qualified judge for the Kenya Floral Arrangement Club.

Not everyone has mastered the art of arranging the front door flowers.

Anju’s front area is a showstopper. Here, she has planted more than 20 different types of plants in various shapes and colours—white, yellow, red, purple, and pink. Over 10 pots of green plants are symmetrically arranged on the veranda. The old man’s beard is as old as the garden.

She also has some air plants and orchids, all of which are coming into season. October is the season for orchids, but they are always in bloom. Some grow on the trunks of palm trees. That is where they get their food. They don’t need much food to grow.

“This is called the Song of India. A friend gave it to me,” she says, pointing to a green plant covered in white flowers.

I finally get to see the little-known insulin plant. It will soon spread to cover a large area. It’s like a rhizome.

“It is believed to help people with diabetes. They chew the leaves of this plant to reduce their diabetes. I have given it to about 30 friends. I just give it to them. If it helps, they go on. If it doesn’t help, they stop,” says Anju.

Her potted bamboos are also doing well, as is the variegated evergreen. Multiple equisetum from Zimbabwe, which she also got from a friend and propagated, are all blooms. The two-year-old Kigelia Africana she bought has now doubled in height.

As a flower arranger, Aeonium comes in handy.

“Mostly I have planted things that I use in my arrangements. So I can use them in my garden. I don’t have to buy them,” she says.

At the front yard, she also has about 12 different species. They are the highlight of the garden.

The 25-year-old royal palm, Washingtonia palm, pinanga palm, ponytail palm, Nairobi palm, ponytail palm, and miniature palm give the city garden a coastal feel.

Her hanging garden features a bromeliad garden with about 13 different varieties of water-loving plants, not forgetting medinella. The white lilies are all in bloom. Hydrangeas like water. The more water they get, the more they grow. She has hybrid cycads that are all fruiting.

On the opposite right-hand side of the garden, the yellow flowers of the ginger plant give the space a sunny feel. There are eight different types of Heliconia here. She has about four varieties of the New Zealand flax, including the red, the variegated, the plain grey, and the miniature pink.

“I have two species of Bird of Paradise, the orange one and there is a yellow one. There are two kinds of birds of paradise, the orange one and the yellow one,” she says.

She has planted the agapanthus with contrasting colours. So when they are in bloom, the purple ones are at the front and the orange ones at the back. This part of the garden is also home to the desert rose she brought from Mombasa.

“This side of the garden is very hot. That’s why I put all my desert roses here. So when it’s hot, the whole thing is full of pink flowers,” she explains.

Begonias, which she also brought from Mombasa, add colour and fill the whole thing. In such a big garden, you can’t plant little, little things. I have to plant them in bulk,” she says.

With countless stuck-together plants in her compound, Anju doesn’t lack space for two or three stems of a plant.

“If I see something new and I want it in my garden, I will plant it,” she says.

Backyards can also be hard to design. But hers is stunning.

She has a small rock garden full of cacti, including hedge cacti, candelabra cacti, and Peruvian apple cacti.

It is an island of clusters of plants such as the bougainvillaea, revered for its red flowers, and the mucuna, which makes her smile. They bloom up to three times a year.

“I love plants that flower. That flower well,” she says.

Her gardening inspiration comes from a gradual passion she developed after taking a gardening course.

“I wasn’t that into gardening. So I did a gardening course in 1984. Although I had a few plants before that, I started collecting over the years,” she says.

A chartered secretary by profession, Anju understands the cost of maintaining a garden.

It has been 15 years since she planted her carpet grass. The frequent weddings have made it look as new as when she first planted it.
“If I were to change the grass, I don’t know how many millions I would use.”

As with any garden, pests and diseases cannot stay away from her plants. Her three gardeners wash the black teeth off her palms. She uses pesticides to control them.

She makes her compost from kitchen waste, mixed with water and a little cow dung.

“Then we give the water to the plants, which makes them so healthy,” she says.

With sprinklers throughout the garden, she waters the garden twice a week, and every day when it is hot.

The mother of two has had her share of setbacks during her gardening journey.

“I had a very big tree, but I lost it. It was old, but about 130 orchids on the tree fell with it.”