BHUBANESWAR: Non-flowering trees and under flyover spaces will be decorated with indigenous ornamental creepers to give the city a fresh look soon. The initiative will be undertaken by Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) in parks and road-side spaces across the city.
The creepers that bloom not only serve practical purposes (erosion control, weed suppression etc) in this role but also add great beauty to the landscape. Because they grow so quickly, creepers are ideal for fast and noticeable changes to landscape aesthetic. Also since they take up little to no ground space (unless used as ground cover), they are going to be used for adding aesthetic and colourful vegetation to non flowering trees.
Plantation will be carried out in 11 parks including five city-level parks and 6 colony parks, in the initial stage. It will be implemented in other parks across the city later this year. Creepers will also be planted on road side trees, with special attention given to the ones which bloom in winter, as the Temple City attracts its major tourism footfall during the winter days.
Horticulture and landscape experts working for BDA and BMC have found that non-flowering plants, despite having dense and beautiful foliage, could not attract the gaze of visitors to the parks and roadside landscapes. However, an additional flowering creeper over them could enhance their potential. Emphasis will be on indigenous creepers so that their growth and health would be uniform with minimal monitoring.
The spaces below the flyovers across the nation have attracted the attention of planners, architects and landscape designers and in places like New Delhi even pillars below the Metro Rail lines have found beautifully decorated with green elements near the squares and busy junctions.
“The Temple City, known for its green cover might have some occasional loss due to cyclones but these creepers, with their quick growth and artistic leaf and flower arrangements, would certainly transform the city parks, flyovers and roadside spaces to provide a new look,” said senior citizen NK Patnaik.
“After the initial phase, the creepers would be introduced in all other city-level parks to provide them a new look and aesthetics,” said a BDA official.