Green peace

PUNE, June 16: Please make me a garden which will bring me happiness!'' It was a tall order for Vijay Broker, a noted authority on gardens, ...

PUNE, June 16: Please make me a garden which will bring me happiness!8221; It was a tall order for Vijay Broker, a noted authority on gardens, something which left a lasting impression on his mind. He firmly believes that a garden is a place where one can find creative satisfaction and immense spiritual and therapeutic value.

Recalls Broker, 8220;This demand aroused my curiosity, since the lady in question had a tiny garden, but wanted everything in it.8221; Broker gave the small rectangular space a lawn, with ferns and flowering trees lending colour and fragrance. 8220;It was a challenge and I felt very happy myself, when she called up a few months later and said the garden had brought her the happiness she had desired,8221; he says.

And this is what makes life worthwhile for Broker, a former chartered accountant with Union Carbide, who got involved with gardening in the United States of America, where he and his family had settled in the 70s. He always had a flair for conceptualisation, designing and landscaping, which he dreamt of putting into practice one day.

8220;In America, you have to work at everything yourself, so with my two little children, who wanted to participate in everything, we had a wonderful garden,8221; he remembers. This hobby was soon to become a full-fledged career. His brother, back in India, Vinod Broker, had taken over Pocha Seeds from the Pocha family, and persuaded his brother to return to India to run the flourishing nursery.

8220;It8217;s so satisfying just to see a new flower appear or a plant take root, and, of course, the creativity which goes into designing,8221; feels Broker in retrospect. Converting an unkempt space into a green shrubbery is his forte. After seeing the site, Broker decides which trees will be placed where. For instance, he looks down upon Ashoka trees as green poles8217; and feels lush mango trees do a better screening job in a garden.

8220;In Pune, terrace gardens and balcony gardens are becoming popular and anything from small trees to flowers can be grown here.8221; His recommendations stem from the conditions at the site, the temperature, the shade, water-logging. But his personal favourites? He has a soft spot for flowering plants, among them the Pabebuia Avalanade, a dark pink flowering shrub and the Cordia, a bright scarlet coloured variety.

At present, he is busy designing the garden at his newly-constructed home in Aundh. A dream come true?