AN exclusive nursery is being developed inside Sri Vani Vilas Ursu Girls High School and College to grow saplings. The programme is being patronised by Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, widow of the scion of the Mysore royal family Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar. College students, teachers and other staff take care of the nursery, and the young minds are made aware of rare trees.
To plant a large number of flowering plants in and around the city, the trust plans to raise 2,000 saplings by the next rainy season. Already 400 saplings were given to Mysuru City Corporation in July to be planted in parks.
Vanitha, a student, says, “We had no idea that Mysuru once housed such rare flowering plants. I plan to grow a plant in my own backyard.”
Siddappa, Economics teacher, says: “Urs is very passionate about raising flowering trees. His initiatives have made us realise what we have missed.”
Bharathi Sridhar Raje Urs, vice president of the Trust, said: “Our efforts at creating tree wealth should be strengthened by the Corporation by maintaining the trees. To compensate the adverse effects of axing trees, Corporation should start an urban tree nursery. There are also suggestions from experts that Bonsai gardening be adopted to trees lining roads and avenues to further enhance the beauty of the city.”