Green all the way

There is something comforting about greens; large trees, small shrubs and bushes, potted plants, indoor plants, even weeds. Just one look at them and most people feel a sense of renewal, a fresh energy seeping through their mind and body.

My love with greens started quite early on, probably my kindergarten days when I used to play with pots and pans. I vividly remember one rainy May afternoon, when I was coming back from school, I stopped my rickshaw to pick up the red krishnochura and their dark green leaves that lay on the road, drenched in the rains.

Those petals and leaves were priceless to me. I came home and cooked make-believe dishes with them for my dolls. It is quite a preposterous thing to do, but collecting leaves and flowers were such a pleasurable thing for me, they were technically my play grocery.

During one summer vacation, I had a botany project from school to name the parts of a tree; collecting barks and twigs. And so, my father took me to his morning walks at Ramna Park, and merrily, we collected fallen leaves and petals and stems. Directing towards a hibiscus flower, he showed me the pollen and the stigma. But the vast emerald green grass, the beautiful canopy of large trees, and birds' chirping away, made Ramna a nature reserve for me, sowing the seed of love for plants in me.

I follow a few groups on social media that are avid plant lovers, and from them, I picked proper names for many common plants. I had no idea that the common money plant is actually called pothos, and there are so many variants of it.

Golden pothos is the most common type you will find, with slightly variegated green leaves that take a golden hue. Jade pothos are like golden pothos, but with solid green leaves; neon pothos have solid neon green leaves. Another term I picked up from these groups is 'propagating,' which is breeding specimens of a plant by natural processes from the parent stock, but I've been cutting stems from parent stocks and placing them in water all my life. The plants grow to be so bushy and plump, but I never knew I was propagating my houseplants from cuttings.

Then the word variegated — a plant or foliage having or consisting of leaves that are edged or patterned in a second colour, especially white as well as green — was new to me. I had no idea on what it meant until I came across a variegated fern in the group, and ran to BRAC nursery to find one for myself.

You should have seen my glee when I placed my variegated fern in my living room on a party night. In fact, that fern, and all my indoor plants shone, and made me happy, their glory made up for all the décor shortcomings of the lounge.

I added few winter flowering pots, and did not feel the need for vases or cut flowers. Plants really are gems of décor pieces for interiors with just a touch of a bohemian or flea market.

This week, Star Lifestyle has recipes for winter greens, and a basic gardening 101 submitted by one of our readers. Enjoy flipping through the pages, and if possible, buy a plant today, because the city nurseries are abuzz with life now.

— RBR

Photo: Sazzad Ibne Sayed