Dr. Manisha Sarup Kohli
“A sincere artist is not one who makes a faithful attempt to put on to canvas what is in front of her, But one who tries to create something which is, in itself a living thing”
Vertical gardens created by this renowned environmentalist are ivy on the walls. The credit of incredibly transforming the barren walls and empty spaces into aesthetically pleasing and creatively stimulating vertical gardens all goes to her. The vertical gardens created at University of Jammu, GCW Gandhi Nagar, College of education, Police public school Miran Sahib and at various residential areas are her brain babies and are creating a soothing natural impact on the visualizers-which is incredibly matching to her own personality.
Dr Latifi’s idea of unveiling these walls of plants aims to give a sense of calm, a natural rest and relaxation at our work and residential places. More-over the plants grown in these vertical gardens are absorbing pollutants and harmful compounds, are acting as a protective-shields and giving us a pure environment to breath in. The beautiful “Garden Gate” set by her at her own department—seems her tribute to her teachers and her very own Department of Environmental sciences, university of Jammu. One may often see this dynamic environmentalist – the soul mother of these famous vertical gardens of Jammu city, caring and ensuring that the plants get all water and nutrients that they need.
Some of the widely grown ornamental plant or houseplant are Song of India, Sword Fern, Ribbon grass, wedding vine, Begonia Peace Lilies, Purple heart, croton, spider plant, Asparagus etc.
Such vertical gardens should spread to other areas of city—especially at our airport and railway-station as they act as a soothing effect to our heart, soul and mind and act as a natural sound proofing barrier. The vegetated surface blocks high frequency sounds, and when built with a substrate or growing medium support they can also block out low-frequency noises, are the great source of increasing biodiversity by creating habitats for birds and insects. Such green walls can help to mitigate the loss of biodiversity caused by urbanization and help to sustain a variety of plants and insects. Her vertical gardens have become a great way to utilize plastic waste and conserve water at the same time. These vertical gardens stop water wastage by allowing the water to drip out of the holes and fall straight through to the plant below.
This young lady environmentalist through her vertical gardens is repurposing old and used objects which is a great way to help clean up the environment. By repurposing she has added creative flair to her gardens and offers the satisfaction of doing her part for the environment. Plastic bottles have become nuisance. Piled in landfills, filling up garbage dumps, and littering the roads, these items like many other garbage items are tossed aside and allowed to pollute our environment. Dr latifi has beautifully converted this plastic waste into a great green movement of our Jammu city——let us join hands with her to create a green Jammu, a clean Jammu as Dr Nazia Rasool Latifi’s vertical gardens are the elegant solutions for reintroducing nature into man made environment.
(The author Associate Prof. Department of Psychology GCW Gandhi Nagar)
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