A visit to Lalbagh with the team at work

 

Jackfruit tree

Lalbagh Gardens

This Sunday morning found us in Lalbagh, Bangalore's central garden space. I loved the wide paths and the grand old trees and the many flowers. Though i am told that it is a lot greener later in the year, after the rains. Spread over 240 acres, it was concieved by Mysore's ruler Hyder Ali in the eighteenth century and later developed further by his son Tipu Sultan and the British. Here are my pictures, i'll write more about individual trees in the days to come.

Jackfruit leaf

The jackfruit has featured in a few of my posts, and in this month's Festival of The Trees. Here is a leaf of the tree:

Jackfruits (Artocarpus heterophyllus)

Here is my neighbour's jackfruit tree! This tree is about 30 years old - my neighbour was given a jackfruit by a friend and after eating the fruit she sowed about ten of the seeds in her backyard. Soon there were 10 little saplings and one of them was allowed to grow into this sturdy tree. It did not bear fruit for the first few years though, until one day they poured a whole lot of manure (courtesy the milkman's cow i'm sure!) around its roots. And then there was no turning back! From 4-5 fruits that summer, the tree went on to yield 40-50 fruits every year.



Sadly the upper branches had to be cut when the house was renovated, but it still stands firm and continues to bear fruit every year. The tree had one fruit on it when i took this picture (we did our bit to help eat the rest!) and here it is.




Here is another tree from the backyard. This one too was trimmed many a time. Because of the nicks and cuts, the tree now bears fruits in clusters of two instead of single ones. This isnt too good - the fruits dont grow as well when they compete for space and sometimes ripen early because of the constamt contact with each other.

An Indian Summer

well atleast a south indian one, is not complete without mangoes (Mangifera indica) and jackfruits (Artocarpus heterophyllus). You see the mangoes all over the place - trees laden with greenish mangoes are a common sight all over the city as are street vendors with ripe yellow mangoes piled all over their carts. There are many different types, though the banganapalli and the malgova are probably the most common in this part of the country. The famed alphanso also makes its appearance, at a premium price of course. Mangoes are native to India, though now they are grown in other tropical places as well. India is hte largest producer of mangoes, though it does not account for too much of the trade in mangoes. Guess we like to eat them all!
And then there are the jackfruits. Native to south and south east asia, the jackfruits are not as ubiquitous as the mango, but definitely a lot bigger! I always marvelled at their size and wasnt surprised to discover a little while back that they are the largest fruit borne on trees. OUr neighbour has a jackfruit tree and are the fruits BIG! Stay tuned for pictures..