Q. Please suggest some easy to care for indoor plants and also some outdoor plants that need little water and will be good for growing in the street outside my home.
A. Providing that there is a decent amount of natural light in the rooms where you wish to have plants, the following need little upkeep: chlorophytum (spider plant), sanseveria (mother-in-law’s tongue/snake plant), tradescantia (wandering Jew) and a wide range of cacti and succulents. For outdoors — although recommendations are hampered as you failed to mention a location — there are many hardy cacti and succulents that meet your requirements as do the following shrubs: lantana, jasmine, motia, kamni, henna, plumbago, russelia, justica and hibiscus.
Q. Can ice apple, munjal or tadgola be grown in Karachi? What growing conditions do they need and are they grown elsewhere in Pakistan?
A. Borassus flabellifer (ice apple, toddy palm, munjal, Asian palmyra palm, etc), is a very tall growing palm — up to 90 feet to 100 feet — indigenous to Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and coastal areas of Pakistan too, although, to be honest, I am not familiar with it. Grown for its fruit, sap and useful fronds, this palm requires high humidity, hot and wet summers, and relatively warm winters to thrive. There is no reason why it cannot be grown in Karachi and judging from information obtained, it may well be growing there already.
Please continue sending your gardening queries to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. Remember to include your location. The writer does not respond directly by email. Emails with attachments will not be opened.
Published in Dawn, EOS, September 22nd, 2019