CHENNAI: Different varieties of plants including 'keelangani keerai', 'modakathan keerai', 'manathakali' and other varieties of herbs/plants including sugarcane, palm dates, brinjal, green chilis and tulasi are what we see when we enter the terrace garden of singer-cum-writer Anitha Pushpavanam Kuppusamy.
She got her interest in gardening from her husband, Pushpavanam Kuppusamy, and Anitha says, “Watching my husband involve himself in everything, from sowing the seeds to making manure, I slowly got pulled into this as well.”
We walk through her garden, known for giving the best produce in the locality – both flowers and vegetables. She says, “Both of us have what people call 'green fingers' and whatever we plant, be it a seed from a fruit we ate or shoot from spinach... it grows miraculously.”
What made them grow their own garden in the city? Anitha says it all started when she and her husband were denied a 'mozham' of jasmine at her husbands home town – Pushpavanam. “It was during the initial period of our marriage... my husband took me to his home which was famous for the flowers. He approached a flower seller to get a mozham of jasmine for me... But, he said that the flowers were to be delivered to someone as a whole stock,” she says. “My husband was both enraged and embarrassed and decided to have his own garden.That's how it started and we set our first pot, a jasmine plant... 23 years ago!” she says. With Pushpavanam's expertise in gardening and Anithas interest in reading about different herbs, the couple started planting more herbs.
Walking us through lines of herbs such as 'ceeni' and 'karpoora valli', she says, “This ceeni plant is apparently on the verge of extinction. It's a good cure for pimples and unwanted facial hair. There are others like tulasi and karpooravali which are good for curing cough and cold.”
From plants that heal joint pains, jaundice and ulcers to plants that double as cosmetics such as kumkum, Anitha has it all. “As I started being more involved in gardening, I read about every other plant and herb. Everything about their goodness is written in a book called Siddha Muligai,” she explains. “We use vegetables only from our garden. This is not the season for plants to bear vegetables... we'll start working on them, repot them and so on, post December,” she says, adding that the vegetables from the garden saved them during the December 2015 floods.
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