Oh, Where Have All the Wildflowers Gone?

~ Hazel Kocherla, OWC member with a finger in many pies

It is very hard to believe that Bangalore was once a Garden City. Most gardens have disappeared; the city’s concrete buildings and pavements have buried the seedlings that would spring to life in April & May.

Fortunately, some neglected patch of soil does reveal its floral secrets after the first rains. They remind us that, like the Tabebuia, Jacaranda and Gulmohar trees that have become a popular tourist attraction, they too were considered a representation of this ‘garden city’.

I think some of these wildflowers are not native to Bangalore but were brought here centuries ago. They self-seed and look best when allowed to grow wild. No amount of watering will get them to flower in other seasons. They wait patiently for the rains, add colour and fragrance to the garden, attract butterflies, bees and syrphid bugs during their flowering season, and give us lovely cut flowers for vases.

I’ll introduce you to the ones that grow on their own in neglected areas of my garden. They are hardy and are disliked by rodents who eat most other roots and tubers in the city. Their seeds need the first April showers to sprout, but once sprouted, they will continue to flourish and flower in dry weather.

I collect wildflower seeds from the garden to sprinkle on muddy patches on roads, under flyovers & in empty plots, hoping to bring the wild flowers back to the city. I am an optimist and am sure they’ll greet us very soon all around Bangalore, nodding their floral heads as we pass by.