I have always been in love with trees as long as I remember. My favourite childhood memory is this small Gulmohar tree in our backyard. I used to sit on a branch while my mother made dose. My father acted as the server and supplied them to the branch.
The only grouse I have with my family is, they sold off whatever tiny land they had even before I was born. So when I came back from US the first thing I set out to do is to get a tiny piece of land that I can plant trees to my hearts content. I did acquire one which already had twenty fruit trees and just left it at that. Other things (startup bug and endurance athletics ) took over my life and I completely neglected it. Until now..
Popular Eye Catching Trees
So at the end of first lockdown(May 2020) I started researching this seriously. I visited many nurseries and started making a list of trees that I want. I wanted a combination of flowering and edible plants .Usual suspects like Gulmohar, Tabebuia, Jacaranda were immediately added to the list. Of course Gurujis list (For uninitiated, Karthikeyan Chief Naturalist with Jungle lodges is known as Guruji across nature circles) is the first one I consulted to select the trees.
The nurseries though were a huge disappointing experience. I dont understand how in this day and age they don’t have a catalogue with all the properties, care instructions etc. Currently , you have to specify what you want and they will tell you whether they have it are not. However some online nurseries such as “nurserylive” and “exoticaflora” have good information, but somehow for plants I prefer offline stores as you can simply pick them up and plant. Also delivery of trees is lot to be desired and few I ordered elsewhere came dried up.
In parallel, I started researching the the Miyawaki method. Miyawaki method is a Japanese technique to grow forest in a sustainable fashion. Thankfully we in Bangalore are fortunate to have startups doing everything under the sun and beyond. I knew of this company afforest as I was a co-panelist with the founder in an event. I approached them to get more information about it.
Shocking Revelations (truly shocking not like news :-))
Based on what they provided and as I started digging deeper into tree species, some truths emerged which made me question my understanding of our own land. First all the fancy eye catching trees are not native; Gulmohar is from Madgaskar, Tabebuia is from South America, Jacaranda is from South America, Silver Oak from Australia etc. By itself that fact is not such a bad thing but they are also supposed to be somewhat predatory/invasive and do not contribute to soil ecology cycle. (Check the wood wide web to understand this better)
The Miyawaki method of planting trees is based on the scientific fact that native trees which support/complement each other when planted in right combination don’t need too much of care and will grow rapidly. They also support bird and insect life which is endemic to India. After learning this and searching few nurseries for native trees I decided to let afforest take care of this. They did an excellent job of educating me and providing me a list of trees and all their attributes (native name in couple of languages, scientific name et al). Obviously I cant share their IP but a true native list is here. Be careful here as many lists online are not accurate. Go with govt research institutes. Many forest nurseries also provide them at throw away prices (say 10–100 Rs). (Why is that truly great things in India are available at dirt cheap ? just wondering not complaining).
I substituted my favourite Gulmohar with Muttuga(Phalash). Yellow Tabebuia with Amaltas(golden shower), Indian Coral Tree and Bahunias for pink Tabebuia and the like. On top, sandalwoods (Srigandha), Arali (Peepal tree), Arjuna (Stores and purifies water tree), Champaka, Mandara, Bela and other trees that one comes across in Indian mythology and folktales were included too.
Rare Trees from Indian folklore and Epics
The research and procuring process was quite mind blowing and fulfilling. One of the rare Indian tree I found was “True”/Sita Ashoka Tree/Saraca Asoka (as opposed to common false Ashoka which is actually “Indian Mast” tree mistaken as Ashoka). This is the tree under which Sita sat in Sri Lanka (from epic Ramayana). This is native to India and Sri Lanka.
Few other rare species are Bhudda Coconut (need to figure out why it is called so), Banni (from Mahabharata, in which Pandavas supposed to have hid the weapons), Krishna Siris and Mysore Fig. And finally really interesting one Somalatha too (Cynanchum acidum). I will let you research the importance of this one :-).
Arali (Peepal Tree) is one of the most Indian tree I would say along with Banyan of course. Every village/locality usually has an Aralikatte (Peepal Platform) which acts a a gathering place for people around it. The aralikatte always has a Neem and a Peepal tree. This is what I am naming my farm, Aralikatte, a place to sanitise(Mental and Physical) and reflect.
When these will grow in couple of months, I will have a full forest which not only will have perennial flowers and fruits but also a rare medicinal plants that can heal many ailments.
Edit (July 19th 2021) : The growth story
Growth now (September 2023) -Its the same corner (Ignore banana that is extra, not part of the forest).
For full video of the forest — checkout the video below
