“I am not happy with this...I need some more time to shape it well...,” says Kamalasanan S, concentrating hard on pruning hedges at the main entrance of Napier Museum. “Patience is the key and you must be willing to take the risk,” he adds.
With a pair of gigantic scissors, the gardener is working on ‘Welcome Swagatham Department of Museum & Zoo Tvm’, shaped out of Phyllanthus myrtifolius (mousetail plant). “When I joined the museum eight years ago in 2011 there was this wall of the Phyllanthus and no topiary. The Museum authorities encouraged me to try my hand at topiary and I succeeded. Earlier, the letters were square-shaped, now I am making them rounded. In addition, I also maintain seven peacocks on top of the entire stretch,” says the 51-year-old gardener. It takes at least a year for the topiary to get the shape and finish required, with regular cutting and pruning being done as and when the twigs and leaves grow.
Kamalasanan S
Meanwhile two other gardeners, John Bright and Geetha, help him out to replant the Phyllanthus shrubs in and around the shape of the state emblem — two elephants on either side of the state and national insignias — near the topiary.
Kamalasanan would have liked to devote more time for the topiary. However, he and his team have several other duties as gardeners. “We have to do weeding, pruning, watering, planting, spray pest repellant and the like. We have to take care of 40 varieties of bougainvillea planted in over 200 pots, ornamental plants and keep an eye on any kind of pest attack,” he says.
Kamalasanan is among the 40-plus gardeners employed at the Museum and zoo complex. They work hard to look after the green lung of the city, which is usually buzzing with people right from 4.45 am (when it opens) to 9.30 pm when the gates are shut.
G R Rajagopal
“A lot of work goes behind maintaining the garden. The entire ground is divided into some 20 plots with a group of gardeners in charge of each of them,” says G R Rajagopal, garden superintendent who has put in two decades of service. He explains that the [Botanical] garden around the Museum is called the upper garden and the one inside the zoo is the lower garden. There are over 200 species of trees on the 55-acre Museum and zoo complex. While some of the area in the garden has a pleasing symmetry with plants, trees, shrubs and flowering plants planted in well-designed patterns, there are also some places that have a charming tropical look about it.
“The space has been designed in such a way that it doesn’t look the same when you walk around. Once you enter the grounds through the gate opposite the city Corporation, you get the feel of a forest with grand evergreen trees creating a green canopy whereas if you come in by the other entrance, the scene is different, thanks to the topiary, the Band Stand, rows of ornamental plants and flower beds,” explains Rajagopal, a Botany graduate, who joined as a curator and then became a supervisor.
The Napier Museum ground
The gardeners are at work from 9 am to 5.30 pm, with a two-hour break in between. Earlier there used to be 60 of them. “Taking care of the lawn is not easy. We have to water it regularly. I have divided them into a team of four. It takes at least three months for them to mow the grass on the entire campus. If it rains, they may have to repeat the process at least four times on the same spot. Those on night duty water the lawn after the Museum gates are closed,” Rajagopal adds.
Jayaprakash K T, another gardener, chips in that the mowing is a laborious task because it is not easy to handle the machine.
Women power
The team has many women gardeners as well. In fact the number of women gardeners have gone up according to Rajagopal. “They take care of weeding, watering, pruning and also keep an eye on any kind of untoward incident inside the campus. Also, there are two women in the team that do the mowing,” says Rajagopal.
Shade trees at the Napier Museum ground
Once they are appointed, the gardeners are taken to government-run gardens in places such as Ooty, Mysore and Bengaluru to understand the nature of their work. “Even though they have only basic educational qualification, they are trained to alert us about any kind of plant disease. Fungal attacks are common, both in small plants and huge trees. Some bacterial infection dry up the plants and so we have to keep our eyes open to spot such infections,” the superintendent says.
What irritates the staff is the waste thrown around by visitors who refuse to dump garbage into bins kept for the purpose. “They leave behind plastic bottles, covers and food waste. Some just stick the bottles in between the branches. They will not walk to the bins and put the bottles in them. After having food on the lawns, they throw the waste there itself even though now there is a space where they can sit down and have food,” says Saleena, another gardener.
Canna lillies in bloom
While the garden is home to many varieties of exotic and indigenous trees, several flowering and ornamental plants such as ixora, hibiscus, roses, marigold, chrysanthemum, cock’s comb, celosia, canna, melastonia, canna, rajamalli and more add a burst of colour to the garden.
Green cover
* Shimshipa trees (Pride of Burma), growing near the children’s park, is mentioned in the Ramayana as the tree under which Sita is believed to have spent her days in Lanka after being abducted by Ravana. It has red flowers, hanging from the stalk, with a dash of yellow at the tip of the petals
Shimshipa flower
* Adansonia Digitata, an African variety, has a lifespan of over 3,000 years
* Taxodium huegelii , growing near the aquarium, is a Mexican native
* The Museum ground has a rose garden with 300 varieties and a garden of plants with medicinal properties
Back in time
The Museum was started in 1857. A zoo and a public garden was opened in 1859. The present building, designed by Robert Chisholm, was unveiled in 1880. The garden was designed by F J Inglebey, who was trained at Kew Botanical Garden in London. Prisoners from Poojappura jail were involved in the landscaping.
An encounter with people and places in the city
