Small nurseries, offering a variety of plants in handy soil-filled pouches, have come up in considerable numbers at select places along the main roads connecting the major thoroughfares in Nellore in the past few months.
More outlets can be seen on the Mini bypass road, which has come to be the main connecting link between the highly populated areas and the national highway, Atmakur bus stand and also the railway station road.
As these nurseries ensure supply of plants that are in good demand, people have been extending their patronage. All those varieties of plants usually sought by the public for domestic, farm and office use are available.
“Roses are always a big favourite with the people. We are also providing large numbers of Aralia bush plants which repel mosquitoes inside homes. We sold a good number of them this winter,” said Korumilli Suresh, who hails from a village near Rajahmahendravaram. He has a comfortable living with the earnings out of this small outlet.
Two to three Aralia bush plants should be grown inside the premises to make sure mosquitoes do not enter the home.
As Nellore city is close to paddy-growing areas of the Penna delta, mosquito menace is quite alarming. There is a threat of fever outbreak due to this.
People of all classes are buying these plants which cost ₹20 to ₹50 per piece depending on the size.
Besides Aralia and roses, there has always been a good demand for hibiscus, marigold, nandivardhanam, govardhanam and kasturi plants. They are also supplying the Arcadia Christmas plants.
Summer blues
Most of these nurseries put on display plants supplied from the huge Kadiyam nursery located in East Godavari district. In many cases, the individuals and families living at the nursery outlet premises come from the villages near Kadiyam.
The narrow spaces available on the bund of the irrigation canal passing alongside the Mini bypass road have become an ideal place for these nurseries. They can easily draw water from the canal to water the plants and keep them fresh.
Summer months would indeed be a trying time for these nursery workers as watering the plants would be difficult.
Most of the time, plants would wither quickly because of sweltering heat. Because of this, the prices of the plants would also go up.
