HYDERABAD: With the objective of expanding the terrace gardens in the cities, as well as encouraging people to grow fruits, vegetables, and ornamental and medicinal plants, the Agri-Horticultural Society located in the Public Gardens has been nurturing, sourcing and selling around 100 plant varieties to city-dwellers since last year.
The Society is planning to make ready as many varieties again this year, the sales of which could start in twenty days.
The plants include a wide range of exotic species, some of which have been procured from abroad, according to Dr AV Rao, Secretary of the Society, which has been mostly maintaining and supplying plants to farmers in the rural areas including the Rangareddy district.“There is an app which can be downloaded as part of our ‘Inti Panta’ initiative and we are also planning to offer home deliveries with a nominal delivery charge,” Rao told TNIE.
Among the rare varieties is the Punasa mango which yields fruits four times in a year. The much-hyped exotic Miyazaki mango variety which is known to sell for a mind-boggling price has also been sold.
Turkey Anjeer, seedless lemon, apple growing in our weather condition, miracle fruit, cat fruit, Barbados cherry, Dragon fruit (red and yellow), blueberry, raspberry, peach, lychee, golden berry, rose apple, white Neredu and gooseberry were just a few among the long list of plants being made available by the Society.
Rao stresses the need for people to grow creepers which yield more oxygen, and also to grow plants like what he calls ‘the Insulin plant,’ Bryophyllum (Ranapala) which has the properties to remove stones in the kidneys apart from its various benefits, and bonsai of Ficus (Banyan), which has the property to absorb the toxins released by ACs and offers plenty of oxygen. The bonsai of ficus are being sold anywhere between Rs 30,000 to Rs 1,50,000 per plant at the Society’s office-cum-nursery.