An oasis of blooms

It was her passion for plants and flowers that inspired Krishna Shenoy to transform her barren patch into an inviting lawn.

Krishna K. Shenoy inherited a love for gardening from her grandmother who introduced her to the joys of planting seedlings and watching them grow into fruit trees. From as young as six, Krishna started assisting her grandmother in planting saplings of mango, cashewnut, breadfruit, pepper, banana and coconut in their yard.

However, a different landscape greeted her when she first arrived in Dubai with her husband 38 years ago.

There were no trees or grass in sight. Instead, the dreary yard surrounding her first villa was full of sand, weeds and stones.
"I promised myself that I would do whatever it took to make it green, which meant I had to work really hard to create a garden from scratch. When we shifted to our present villa in Mankhool six years ago, I had to leave behind most of my plants and start a new garden all over again," Krishna says.

A transformed area

The once bleak expanse of sand is today awash with a variety of plant textures and colours. As the weather cools down, her garden starts to wake up with early season annuals, but the real show starts during spring, when a host of blooming annuals turn her garden into a riot of colours.

The paved entrance to the house is bordered on either side by dazzling seasonal blooms that cheerfully welcome and lead you to the main door. The terracotta pots teeming with masses of white, pink, mauve, blue and purple petunias add drama to the whole setting.

Ornamental shrubs, such as crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii) and desert rose (Adenium obesum) produce red and pink flowers during the hottest months. Planted in attractive pots, these flowering succulents are wonderful additions to the patio and provide year-round colour.

Two dwarf sago palms (Cycas revoluta) are used as specimen plants for framing the short flight of stairs that leads to the elevated porch.

The front porch provides a bright and breezy setting for the pots, window boxes and hanging baskets, all overflowing with colourful petunias, impatiens, phlox and zonal pelargoniums (more commonly known as geraniums). Two huge stone urns, which are placed on pedestals, make arresting focal points.

The tall pedestals provide the perfect perch for cascading masses of purple and white petunias. The predominantly white, blue and purple planting has a cooling effect, with the reds providing just the right dash of warm colours.

Clever use of space

A remarkable aspect of Krishna's garden is her clever use of space. The use of pedestals, plant shelves, iron stands, window boxes and hanging baskets creates a tiered planting effect. Hanging baskets of petunias, geraniums, impatiens and edging lobelia on the front porch, lawns, entrance and patio bring the vibrant colours to the eye level without occupying much floor space.

The landscaped area in the foreground features a number of informal beds that showcase a variety of ornamental annuals and perennials. Borders brimming with purple, pink and white petunias, and pink phlox are separated from the lawn by neat edgings that define the lawns and the flowerbeds.

The adjacent beds filled with golden-yellow calendulas and marigolds bask in the sunshine to create dramatic contrasts.

A rustic wooden structure shaped like a hut makes for an eye-catching frame for several potted plants near the compound wall. In one corner of the garden, yellow bells (a short tree bearing fragrant yellow flowers) stands around the herbaceous borders to provide partial shade.

Laudable combinations

In the background, robust bougainvilleas in shades of magenta, white and pink clamber up and spill over the garden wall, their bold colours sparkling in the sunlight.

The two rectangular lawns in the front yard complement the dull red paving and flowerbeds - the colourful blooms stand out against the backdrop of lush green grass. "The lawn laid by a local landscaping company became patchy and brown during summers, so my gardener replaced the turf with Sharjah grass, which is one of the hardiest, locally-available grasses.

"It is well-suited for our hot climate and requires minimal care to remain lush green throughout the year," Krishna says.

What is really interesting and unique about Krishna's garden is the charming use of garden ornaments and whimsies everywhere.

Over the years, she has collected a host of sculptures and garden curios that add her unique personal touches to the garden. Whimsical sculptures meet you at every turn - from painted storks, squirrels and frogs near the water feature, to a life-size metal deer in the lawn.

Element of fun

A brilliantly coloured macaw perched high on a tree branch adds an element of fun to the garden. It is indeed a garden that combines flare, fun and imagination and forces you to slow down and admire the displays.

Krishna's long experience with gardening has given her an uncanny ability to find the perfect place for each of her prized plant.

"If you really love a plant, you can make it work in your garden," she says. According to Krishna, the soil gets depleted of its vital nutrients very fast in our country's harsh climate and, therefore, container plants are extremely prone to retarded growth - particularly if they are pot-bound.

Which is why she makes it a point to change the soil and re-pot all her container plants regularly, even if it means getting a truckload of sweet soil every year. She mixes one part potting soil, one part sweet soil and one part peat moss with a handful of fertilisers to prepare a soil mix.

The backyard enjoys a sunny position and is planted with a variety of shrubs and trees that cast shadows across the pathway and add texture, form and height to the garden. Fruit-trees such as sapota and gooseberry attract a variety of birds.

Tall trees such as the drumstick (Moringa oleifera) and cork tree (Millingtonia hortensis), bearing clusters of creamy white flowers, not only provide cool shade and fragrance but also privacy by screening the house from the street and neighbouring villas. Gardening is a passion and not just a pastime for Krishna. She is constantly looking for new plants for her yard.

New addition

Last year, she nearly fell down from a tall jacaranda tree in Los Angles, US, when she climbed it in order to obtain its seeds. Thanks to her fervour, she now has a little jacaranda tree in her yard which she hopes will someday produce a profusion of captivating mauve blooms.

"I'm very close to my garden and plants. Each time a plant produces a flower or yields a fruit, I feel a sense of achievement. When you see a flower blooming in your garden, you see God smiling at you," Krishna says.

- Chandana Roy is a UAE-based gardening enthusiast