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July 7, 2005
Search for a horticultural society
By Zahrah Nasir
Q I am desperate to find Ceropegia woodi, but cannot locate it in any Islamabad nursery. Can you help me please? Perhaps someone living in the area has it and would like to exchange a plant with me. A. May I suggest that you contact your local horticultural society to see if any of their members can assist you. Failing this, then perhaps you could search the Internet for a source of seeds and try growing the plants from start yourself.
Ceropegia woodi is sometimes called the rosary vine or string of hearts. It is classified as a succulent and drought tolerant plant, with thick fleshy leaves and extremely beautiful flowers. I am not at all surprised that you would like to add it to your garden.
Q I want to do a course in gardening, could you please point out some suitable places where I may enroll?
A Once again, I suggest that you get in touch with your local horticultural society as they should be aware of what courses are available in your area.
You didn’t specify your location, but if you are in the Islamabad area then you could also get in touch with either the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council or the National Agricultural Research Council as they sometimes run such courses.
If you reside in a different locality, then your local branches of these organizations may be able to assist you.
Q I am interested in growing Chinese lemons and custard apples. Can you advise me on this? A Both of these varieties of fruit trees are easily available from nurseries in Karachi, and provided that they are pot grown plants you can purchase them at any time of the year.
However, if they are being grown in the ground then they should not be disturbed while they are fruiting. The same applies to removing the trees from the pots and planting them in your garden.
They both grow and fruit well in the ground or in pots. They prefer a sunny location, a good soil and a reasonable amount of water. They can also be grown from seed taken from ripe, preferably slightly over ripe fruit purchased from the local shops.
Seeds should be planted at about half an inch below the surface in pots or trays of good, well-drained compost and will germinate quite rapidly. Seedlings should be transplanted into individual seven-inch pots at the four-leaf stage and grown on from there.
Grown from seed, custard apple can fruit in as little as 18 months in Karachi and Chinese lemons within two to three years.
Q I live in an apartment in Karachi and have always wanted to grow plants on my balcony, which has clear sunlight from noon till mid afternoon. I would like to grow plants with colourful leaves throughout the year, with fragrant flowers. I would also like to grow roses and mushrooms. Where can I get these plants?
A Fragrant jasmine, both the day and night-scented varities may suit your requirements and these grow well in large pots as long as they are kept watered.Otherwise, I recommend that you purchase pots of seasonal flowers from your local nursery and enjoy these while they last, replacing them with other varieties as the seasons change.
I do not think roses will be suitable for your sunny balcony as it is liable to get far too hot for them and the blooms will be scorched.
Growing mushrooms is quite time consuming and rather difficult and the spawn is almost impossible to find, so I would not pursue this idea at the moment.
Q In your articles you have mentioned various fruit trees, bushes and vines, but most of the exotic ones are not available in Lahore. I would appreciate it if you could let me know where I can find plants or seeds for these.
A I understand your problem perfectly and the only answer is to import the seeds yourself or through your local horticultural society, if they have such an arrangement.
Quite a number of foreign seed companies now send seeds directly to Pakistan without any problem, other than occasional theft of the precious packet somewhere along the line and not necessarily here, which can be overcome by taking out insurance on the order. Reputable seed companies do offer this service, avoid those that don’t.
Sorry, but I cannot give you a list of such companies, here, but do suggest that you either search on the Internet or look through second hand copies of gardening magazines which are often found in book stores. Good luck in your quest!
Q I have collected wood shavings from the construction of doors, window frames, etc. of my new house and want to use them for my garden. How should I proceed?
A I am pleased to see that you have taken this step as many people would throw the precious wood shavings away.
I would suggest that you either add them to a compost heap and let them rot down over time. Or mix them; one-third wood shavings, one-third wellrotted manure and one-third good soil and use this as a mulch in your garden.
Everything will rot down in time as long as it is kept watered. The end result should be an excellent growing medium.
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