Green fingers: Anything for the love of spines & succulents

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 10

While most of the people detest the idea of growing cactus in their gardens, Navdeep Singh, a city resident, is out to dispel the myth. With around 2,000 varieties of cacti and succulents, he is also trying to create awareness regarding the benefits of growing these plants.

It was in 2015 when he met cactus lovers and was immediately drawn towards beautifying his balcony with cacti. He regularly started keeping more and more varieties of cactus and succulents in his garden. After collecting these from various parts of the country and through the exhibitions, he has dedicated the top floor of the house to the thorny plants.

“I started up with roadside cacti plants, I gathered more information on cactus and found out that there are hundreds of breeds of plants, including those that produce flowers,” said Navdeep.

Refusing to believe that cacti bring ill-luck to its owner, Singh has also named his home as ‘Passion Garden (Cactus House)’.

A resident of the Model House here, he is regularly visited by those having a green thumb. They also purchase plants from him.

Most growers share seeds among themselves. “Getting seeds and saplings of cacti is very difficult since people are wary of having these plants,” says Singh. “All over the country there are a few nurseries that sell these plants. Having imported some plants from foreign countries, I usually order cactus and succulents from Calcutta, Rajasthan, Pune and other states. We have our association of cactus lovers,” added Navdeep.

While he does the plantation job, his wife, Gurmeet Kaur keeps their cacti garden decorated. Different kinds of pots are kept in different corners to give the required shape to their plants.

Navdeep Says, he also has plants that last nearly 40-50 years. He is the proud owner of rare and expensive breeds of cactus; astrophytum myriostigma crest and astrophytum capricorne. As these are very expensive plants, he says, “I don’t really care about my expenses when it comes to spending on these.”

While officials from different agriculture universities in the state visit his garden to see the unusual cacti collection, he has contributed in making a cactus park at Bhawanigarh in Patiala.

Nurturing cacti

These are low maintenance plants. They are perennial plants which means they keep growing year after year. “Cactus should be sowed in pots having good drainage, and placed under adequate sunlight. Mix gravel in soil before potting a plant so that water can be out drained easily. We make the adequate porus soil for them on own and also mix charcoal in the pots to soak the extra water. The flowers in cactus and succulents usually grow after mid February. Even during the summers the colourful flowers in cacti blooms like a rainbow in blue clouds,” said Navdeep.

He and his wife have also created new varieties of cacti in their garden by cross pollination, grafting and seed germination methods. To apprise nature lovers of cactus, Navdeep also runs a YouTube channel.