A blooming good life! The Botanical Society of Goa has had to do the unthinkable to ensure a level playing field. Ask Saligao’s Nicholas Sequeira to stop participating in the best garden contest since he kept on winning for five years. But this isn’t new. Way back during his UAE days, in the desert of Abu Dhabi the press labelled him the “urban gardener”. But the man doesn’t just win competitions. Gardening is his life and he is a real “green”
*Rachel Fernandes/ The Goan* 02 November 2013 <http://www.thegoan.net/Goa/Goenkar/A-blooming-good-life/06411.html#default_popup> <http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegoan.net/Goa/Goenkar/A-blooming-good-life/06411.html&media=http://www.thegoan.net/uploads/news/big_6411_SECOND-LEAD12.jpg> A riot of colours engulfs you when you step into Nicholas Sequeira’s Saligao house. In fact, the garden, in all its flowering beauty, in shades ranging from pinks, purples, reds, oranges and yellows is truly a sight to behold and beautifully complements the peach-coloured house that he has carefully and tenderly built, just like his garden. “Right now, the gardening season is just starting, and most of the plants are mainly stubs and shoots,” he says while engrossed in the task of re-potting the bougainvillea. In about a month, he says, the plants will bloom in their full glory. Such is the beauty of his hard work that for six years in a row, Sequeira bagged the Best Home Garden in the Botanical Society of Goa’s Home Garden Contest. In fact, in the sixth year, the Society requested him to stop participating. Sequeira traces his love affair with flowers and gardening back to his childhood. “It’s in my genes,” he says. “My mother was a keen gardener, though a bit of a disorganised one. However, seeing the fruit of her efforts is probably what got me hooked.” Occupying a place of pride in his living room is a rolling trophy that he was awarded in 2003 when he won the championship for potted plants. He continued with his gardening even when he moved to Abu Dhabi in 1974, converting the balconies of his flat into a flowering paradise. His dedication and passion even earned him the title of “Urban Gardener” in the UAE press and people would often stop outside his residence to admire the natural beauty on display. Returning to Goa in 2000, he began the task of doing up his garden. Today, he grows a range of local and exotic ornamental plants including bougainvillea and buttercups. Though roses are his true passion, he has refrained from planting them because of Goa’s hostile growing conditions, especially the climate. His backyard is an assortment of fruit- and vegetable-bearing plants. In fact, one backyard patch housing the coconut trees is irrigated from the waste water he has channelised from his neighbour’s house. “Plants are just like us humans. They also respond positively to love and affection and wither away when starved of it. Gardening demands hard work, commitment and patience, but rewards you adequately too. It is one of the best stress busters,” Sequeira says. Sequeira is equally passionate about is creating his own compost. Dotting the backyard are various pits where he composts kitchen and other wet waste to create the highly nutritious fertilisers he feeds his plants. He attributes his good health to his garden and his busy schedule. “People often have this misconception about retired life, that it is about doing nothing. You retire from your work, not from life. This for me is my life, and I love everything and every moment of it,” he says. http://www.thegoan.net/Goa/Goenkar/A-blooming-good-life/06411.html _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ FN P+91-832-2409490 M+91-9822122436 _/ New from Goa,1556 [http://bit.ly/Goa1556Books2] _/ http://bit.ly/TGIU-cover | The General Is Up _/ http://bit.ly/gfai-cover | Goa Found & Imagined _/ http://bit.ly/MR-cover | Mirrored Reflections(poetry) _/ _/ -- -- Saligao-Net is at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe email [email protected] --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
