121
9. ROCKERY V
This is more or less triangular in shape. At the broad-based eastern
end is a very beautiful collection of Nolinas and/or Beaucarneas (some
plants of these genera, of families Nolinaceae and Agavacea, respectively,
are now considered identical). This collection, planted during its early days,
122
is one of the most attractive sights of the garden. All the plants have very
big caudices, some being more than one metre thick, and two to three metres
high. Seeds of some of these plants came to us as Nolina longiflora, but the
leaves of our plants are not so long as shown in JACOBSONs book on
Succulents. Otherwise the character of the leaves, apart from their length, is
identical to their description in the text. There are a few plants of Nolina
recurvata as well.
123
There are plants of Beaucarnea gracilis and Beaucarnea stricta also
in this group. In front of this group in the middle is a very big plant of
Dasyilrion longissimum. The long gracefully bent bluish green leaves with
small teeth on margins make it a very graceful plant. This species flowers
every year but unfortunately they do not set seeds here. The same is true of
Nolinas and Beaucarnia which do not set seeds. A couple of very large
Jatropha podagrica plants grow at one end of the Nolina plantation. This
species forms very large, up to two metres high, plants with caudices about
twenty to thirty centimeters in diameter, and bloom profusely during
summers.
Behind the Nolina plantation along the North-Eastern side is the
Euphorbia collection. At the Eastern end there is a large plant of Euphorbia
royaleana. Near this there is another large majestic plant of Euphorbia
cooperi and a smaller struggling plant of Euphorbia grandicornis.
Euphorbia antisyphilitica has grown into a very long bush. Another large
Euphorbia trianlii plant further north in the background has grown into a
small tree. A field collected plant of (probably) Euphorbia riebeckii from
Yemen also grows here. Further North in the background is a tall three
stemmed plant of Euphorbia virosa. This too is from a field collected
seedling sent by JOHN LAVRANOS. Euphorbia xylophylloides growing in
124
front of Euphorbia virosa has grown into a very big bush. Near the
Northern end are large plants of Euphorbia nerifolia, Euphorbia
cauducifolia, Euphorbia barnhardtii, and a couple of Euphorbia trigonafa
variegata. In the middle zone spread over this rockery are several plants of
Euphorbia milii, its variety splendens, and a couple of unidentified but
beautiful varieties. There are a few big groups of Euphorbia hislopi. A very
big group of Euphorbia dideriodes is in front near the middle. There are two
smaller groups of this attractive species. There are a couple of groups of
Euphorbia heteropoda and Euphorbia lowii.
Recently several smaller growing attractive species have been planted.
Seven Euphorbia miruii plants form an attractive group near middle.
Outdoors this plant is showing robust growth. Small plants of Euphorbia
caput-medusa and Euphorbia maleolens have also been planted. Two plants
of Euphorbia horrida and a single plant of Euphorbia fruticosa have also
established here. In front several plants of Euphorbia mammillaris and its
hybrids have been planted in small groups. These plants have started
offsetting and should form very attractive groups in a couple of years. There
are two plantations of some Monadenium species. A smaller group near the
Eastern end has Monadenium ellenbeckii and Monadenium guentheri. There
is large group of Monadeniums near the middle. A couple of plants of
125
Monadenium schubei at the back already show branching and will form
attractive groups in the near future. Monadenium guentheri and
Monadenium ellenbeckii plants show robust growth. Monadenium
staplekiudes is also in the process of forming groups. There are two more
species which are unidentified so far.
Recently several plants of Euphorbia splendens hybrids have been
planted. These large bright flowers add colour to this rockery in winter.
On the South-Western face of this rockery efforts are being made to
plant members of the Crassulaceae Family and few plants of
Mesembryanthemum Family.
During the last winter followed by some heavy rains during this
monsoon, most of the recent plantation of Crassulaceae Family was wiped
out. A few plants of Echeveria metallica, a hybrid Pachyveria, a few
Pachyphytums a couple of species of Kalanchoe, some Sedum and
Pachyphyllum plants have survived. Now efforts are being made to
reintroduce the species which could not survive earlier. They have been
planted in small pots and are being acclimatised in cooler areas of the
rockery and will be fully exposed gradually. It is hoped that this procedure
will have better success rate.
126
Some large groups of Aptenia cordifolia and a species of Delosperma
have established nicely. Efforts will be made to introduce Lampranthus
species in the coming months.
This area has the honour to have a majestic, about four to five meter
tall Pachypodium gaeyi plant. This was the first Pachypodium plant
acquired by me form CHARLES GLASS when I had visited his collection.
In nature Pachypodium gaeyi becomes eight to ten meters tall. This plant is
about five meters tall and about thirty-five cm. thick at the base. The tall
spiny trunk tapers very gradually and the end divides into two main
branches, and then further branches to form a canopy about one and a half
meters across. The thin leaves with a prominent red rib form small terminal
rosettes. This plant flowers every summer but has not set any seeds. For the
last five years a squirrel and some birds have an annual fight to nest in its
branches. Two more plants of Pachypodium lamieri have also been planted
which are about three meters high. Several very large plants of Jatropha
podagrica with very big caudices are also in this area.
CYCAS COLLECTION. An effort has been made to develop an
outdoor collection of Cycads. These are long living plants and sometimes
old Cycads are described as living fossils. We have succeeded in developing
a small collection of these plants. The area across the path near the
127
Crassulaceae collection extending up to the large water tank has several
species of cycads. Three beds near this path have several large offsetting
Zamia furfuracea plants. These are beautiful groups. Another species of
Zamia which came to us as Zamia floridana has been recently planted. At
the South-eastern area are large plants of Cycas circinalis. I had field
collected these plants from a hill about ten miles North of Madurai in
Tamilnadu. These plants are showing robust growth. Several groups of
Cycas revoluta are growing along the banks of the large water body. Apart
from these we have five more species which have not been properly
identified. It is very difficult to procure authentically identified Cycads in
India. Moreover the plants are very costly.