With gardening now becoming a popular activity and having plants around the place evolving as a style statement of sorts, the nursery business seems to be flourishing in the city. While nurseries are mushrooming everywhere, Green Orchid Nursery, spread over five acres on the Chennai-Chengalpet Main Road, has been in the business for over 30 years now.
The services offered by this nursery extend far beyond selling of plants, landscaping, consultation and maintenance of gardens, to renting out plants for occasions. And then, its thoughtful ‘Gift a Plant’ initiative enables green-minded persons to source attractively packaged plant/tree saplings as gifts for special occasions.
“We have seen people giving away saplings as return gifts not just on auspicious occasions but also at corporate events,” says Kamala Thangappan, who started Green Orchid Nursery, drawing from her own experience in gardening.
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The nursery also offers guidance and support for those who travel frequently on maintaining their gardens. “Simple steps like making a small hole in the lid of a water-filled bottle and placing it upside down on the pot will ensure enough hydration for the plant for a few days,” says Kamala.
The nursery has around 200 varieties of trees (palm, timber and avenue trees) and 500 types of plants (ornamental, herbal, vegetable, indoor and water plants). “We constantly get requests for rare varieties. We take this up as a challenge and have been able to source them for our customers so far,” says Kamala.
This includes rarely grown plants such as rudraksha, avocado, litchi, star fruit and nutmeg. Green Orchid Nursery has a branch in Madurai as well.
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“According to Hindu mythology, trees, flowers, and water are considered sacred, and we followed rituals like going around trees and taking holy dips in rivers and seas. But what ‘sacred’ actually meant was that mankind had to protect and nurture nature, because water and plants are vital for life. I am glad that gardening has become fashionable yet again,” smiles Kamala.