HOME LANDSCAPE GREATLY IMPROVES THE AESTHETIC AND FUNCTIONAL UTILITY OF THE AREA: PAU EXPERTS

LUDHIANA, JULY 18:-----



Landscape helps in improving the aesthetic and functional utility of the available open space around houses. Landscape plan should always be in harmony with the house. This was emphasized by the PAU scientists of the Department of Floriculture and Landscaping. Patio (verandah), drive way, play area for children, open space for pets, yard for games, social ceremonies and other functional spaces are some of the thrust areas of the landscape plan. Stating that combining both natural and artificial landscape elements give a graceful and harmonious look to the garden, the experts told that there are few artificial landscape elements like stone walls, stepping stones, walkways, gazebos, fences, fountains, ornamental lights, outdoor furniture, rock and water gardens, etc., which beautify the landscape of a home.



PAU expert Mr Parminder Singh told that the selection of trees should be in accordance with the height of the building and direction. Plantation of deciduous trees on the Southern and Western side of a house provides shade during summers and sunlight during winter months whereas plantation of evergreen trees on the Northern and Western side of a house can serve as windbreaks, suggested he. Referring to the landscape design of a house, Mr Singh said that the shape of the lawn can be any (i.e. round, oval or irregular) but preferably should be devoid of straight lines. The entry of the garden should be near to the entrance of the house or the patio. Flowering beds should be at least 3 feet from the edge so that the mower can be run easily in between to cut grass, advised he and emphasized that the size and shape of the beds should be in accordance with the shape of the lawn and in proportion to the available open space.

Another expert Mr Ranjit Singh said that the dwarf to medium annuals plants should be planted towards the house and the large ones should be planted on the far side or corners. Mound can be created in any of the corners of the lawn to break the monotony of the garden. Suggesting that the background plantation can be done with drooping type trees or bamboos, Mr Singh said that the boundary plantation can be with upright trees such as Ashoka (Pendula), Juniperus, Saru, etc. On the right side of the drive way, the available space can be used for permanent plantation of ground covers for creating any pattern, said the expert while adding that the pebbles can be used to distinguish different ground covers. The pillars or roof of porch or patio can be used for climbers to give softness to the hardscape, e.g. golden shower, jhumka bel and clerodendron, etc.



The scientists suggested that for home landscaping, generally dwarf to medium trees like queen flower, pagoda, bottle brush, etc., are used. Amongst shrubs muraya, clerodendron, alier and duranta can be used for both edge and hedge making. They told that shrubs like chandni, hamelia, kaner and galphimia should be planted for beautiful flowers while motia, haar shingar and rat ki rani for their fragrant flowers. Bougainvillea can be used as hedge, climber or as flowering pot plant whereas climbers like jhaller bel can be trained as screen, along the boundary wall or from roof top. The experts stressed that the indoor plants should be selected in view of their placement (Southern window, East or West window or Northern window) in the house and should be regularly revolved after every week or so. Ground covers like golden duranta, iresine (lal pati) and opheopogon, etc., can be used for edge making or for plantation in shady locations, where it is difficult to grow grass. Telling that all the plants requiring sun, shade, water, etc, should be groped together, the landscapists added that the shrubs with similar flower colour should be planted in groups of 3-5 and flowering beds should be planted with single coloured annual to create the mass effect.


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