MYSURU: He walks up to a plant and stops. He looks at it closely to confirm if it is a rare flowering plant. “It would look beautiful growing on the roadside and on the hill in Mysuru,” he muses. He won’t rest until he gets the seeds and sows them in Mysuru. Outwardly there is nothing about him that would point to the vast knowledge he has about rare flowers. He does his job quietly.
Seventy-four-year-old D N Srikanta Raje Urs, a trustee and joint secretary of Sri Jayachamaraja Urs Education Trust, is on a mission to recapture the flower power of Mysuru.
Tabebuia Chrysantha, Jacaranda, Cassia Nodosa, Mammea Suriga: Bursts of these yellow, violet and pink blossoms used to dot the city’s landscape. These rare flowering plants are slowly becoming extinct and some have vanished, thanks to rapid urbanisation.
But Srikanta Raje Urs wants to make Mysuru bloom again. He seeds exotic flowering plants and ensures they grow into trees. What is unique about some of these flowers is that they bloom during Dasara.
He has been busy collecting seeds of these flowering trees from Lalbagh in Bengaluru and of ‘Flame of the Forest’ from Siddapur in Uttara Kannada for over a decade. He preserves and germinates them in the right environment taking utmost care. He sets aside two hours daily to germinate seeds and nurture the saplings.
His mission doesn’t end there. He distributes the saplings to educational institutions and interested citizens free of cost, thereby motivating the public to grow flowering trees.
Over the past several years, Srikanta Raje Urs has studied about these exotic plants and has equipped himself with enough knowledge to create awareness among public about the need to conserve rare species of flowering trees.
“The seeds of these trees were earlier brought from several parts of the country. They are very hard and cannot be germinated easily. I discovered a technique by which 80 per cent of seeds can germinate within three days. The only thing is we have to nurture the trees for one rainy season and protect them from cattle,” he says.
Watering just once a week is enough while a mild pest control is needed. The lifespan of these trees is around 60 years and in some instances more than 100 years.
“Following urbanisation, we are losing the rare flowering trees of America, Colombia, Brazil, Thailand and Argentina. My desire is to plant trees along the roads approaching Mysuru, near Railway Line and also atop Chamundi Hill and in new layouts that are being developed.
We can further enhance the beauty of Mysuru with these flowering plants. This would also provide a great view if we see from atop Chamundi Hill,” he adds.
“My father D Nanjaraj Urs was a close associate of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the king of Mysuru. My father used to talk about Wadiyars’ initiative. This inspired me to grow uncommon trees.”