Passion in the desert

It is a small garden — cosy and beautiful without being cluttered.

Masses of colourful petunias give this garden its exuberance.

But beneath its carefree appearance lies careful planning, apparent in features such as tiered flowerbeds, stone statues and a brick-red wall that serves as a stunning foil for the green plants.

It is obvious that Priti Premkumar has not let the limited space limit her imagination.

“I designed the garden myself, drawing inspiration from various sources.

While driving to Abu Dhabi, I saw these tiered beds under the flyovers and got the idea of having rows of raised beds in my garden to maximise the available planting area.

Similarly, while flipping through the pages of a magazine, I saw this picture of a room with a red wall and decided to paint one of the garden walls red.

Since my husband is in the construction business, he helps to turn any new idea into a reality,'' Priti says.

Newfound love

Gardening is a relatively new pursuit for Priti.

Even though she has lived in Dubai for over three decades now, it was not until she shifted to her new villa, two-and-a-half years ago, that Priti got seriously interested in designing the landscape herself.

As you enter the paved entrance, you are greeted by an array of seasonal blooms, directing your eyes to the main door.

Terracotta pots — brimming with white, pink, red and purple petunias — create a visual splash.

Two tiers of gently curving raised beds set a dramatic stage for the frilled petunias in shades of pink and white, creating an undulating sweep of colour in the narrow patch of lawn.

According to Priti, instead of plain, rectangular beds, she designed sinuous ones to impart a soft, flowing look to the garden.

Repeating plants and growing them in masses helps to create a strong visual impact.

Since their growing season is rather short, most of the annuals and perennials in Priti's garden grow in containers.

Containers give her the flexibility to move her plants around.

Altogether, 130 pots are placed around the stairs, pathways and garden beds, most of them filled with petunias, geraniums, snapdragons, impatiens and carnations.

Three garden benches and a table offer a comfortable vantage point to enjoy the view.

When the flowering season is over, hardy succulents, such as crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii) and desert rose (Adenium obesum), take over and provide year-round colours with striking red and pink flowers during the hottest months.

According to Priti, her friend Krishna Shenoy gave her the first cuttings of these regionally adapted species.

A long journey

By her own admission, Priti did not even know the common names of these plants.

But today, her collection includes 15 varieties of desert rose and 16 varieties of crown of thorns.

Grown in terracotta pots, these flowering succulents are wonderful additions to the patio and provide off-season colours.

One corner of the garden has been set aside for hardy perennials that continue to thrive when all other annuals have perished.

A cluster of easy-to-grow leafy perennials, such as devil's backbone, jade plant, desert rose and tradescantia, have been planted in layers in the multi-level beds.

Tall terracotta pots, pebbles and rocks provide decorative elements.

A smiling cherub, holding urns with cascading water, stands amid the foliage.

The gentle gurgle of water trickling down drowns the traffic noise and creates a soothing effect.

In fact, you meet smiling cherubs in every part of the garden — some holding pots, some sitting and some as fountains.

They add to the cheerful ambience and serve as a common theme for linking various parts of the garden.

Frangipani trees stand at the back of the raised border along with a few ficus trees — their green foliage providing privacy.

Holding on

“Every shrub and tree in my garden has come from our previous villa, where we had lived for over 12 years. We shifted to this villa in the middle of summer and everyone discouraged me from uprooting the fully grown trees and shrubs, saying they would never survive, but I refused to leave my plants behind. And today, all those shrubs and trees form the backbone of my garden,'' Priti says.

Priti ascribes her love for plants to the fact that she grew up in Ooty, a hill station in south India, where every house has a garden.

However, she admits she truly started appreciating flowers only after coming to Dubai.

“When you live in a place where beautiful flowering plants grow all around you with very little effort, you tend to take their beauty for granted. It was only after I came to Dubai that I realised how much effort it takes to maintain plants and how eagerly you wait for your plants to show their first blooms,'' Priti says.

She loves every bit

Now that she has discovered the pleasures of gardening, she does not mind the mundane chores associated with it.

In fact, she even gets a kick out of tedious tasks such as deadheading, weeding and watering.

She does not trust anyone, even her gardener, to water her plants because, she feels that the correct amount of watering is crucial.

Watering so many containers takes a lot of time but she enjoys every moment of it.

“Come summer or winter, I get up at five every day and spend about two hours in the morning and about an hour in the evening with my plants. It fills me with great joy to see so much colour around me. It's so easy to get someone else to do your gardening but when you do it yourself, the satisfaction is ten times more.''

— Chandana Roy is a UAE-based gardening enthusiast