For J Mohaneswari, a longtime resident of Vyasar Street, situated off North Usman Road, growing native plants is not just an hobby, but a way to creates awareness about using such species to save upcoming generations from adulterated food.
News Today makes a visit to her home garden that boasts of tiny herbal plants like tulsi, mint, insulin plant, keelanalli to big ones like guava, papaya, drumstick, plantain and so on.
Sharing her thoughts, she says, “I was born and brought up here in T Nagar. I gave a serious thought of promoting native plants after the floods that hit the city in 2015.”
“My house too was flooded like that of many others, and the plants that were here, were all washed away. After this incident, I did my research and procured native seeds of various vegetables and fruits from across the State and planted them,” she explains.
Her space now includes different varieties of ladies finger, brinjal (green and purple), ‘avarai’, ‘surakkai’, ‘kovakkai’, chilli, karamani, beans and desert plants as well, while fruit plants like lemon, papaya, sapota and orange, steal the show.
On the other hand, flowering ones like hibiscus, madurai malli, marikolundhu, mullai, ixora lend beauty to the entire space.
“Here, I have given a separate space for herbal plants like vallarai, mudakkathan, thooduvalai, karpooravalli. I also give away seeds to those who are interested in our native flora,” she says.
It may be noted that Mohaneswari, along with few of her like-minded friends, runs a forum called Green House and conducts regular events named ‘Nam Parambariyam’, where the members distribute seeds to visitors.
She can be reached at 93805 14956.