So, many things happened after I officially started my tiny new garden. As someone said, your garden is never the same – there's always something new every day. It's been more than a week since I planted the Water Hyacinth and lo and behold! Something exciting happened yesterday morning when I went back home from work.
In fact after a bit of reading about Water Hyacinths, I learned that they're a nuisance in most of the water receptacles. I learnt that they double themselves every fortnight and their hairy roots also serve as the breeding homes for mosquitoes (this got me really scared). In fact in many parts of India this beauty is completely covering the streams, backwaters, and other water receptacles, and is really difficult to eliminate them. Anyways I'm not worried about all that as I'm not introducing them in to streams (as if there're many in Chennai).
When planted in homes they serve as beautiful ornamental and low-maintenance plants. If you live near ponds or lakes don't ever introduce these into them, as they crowd together so much that they block the oxygen supply to the water hence killing the aquatic plants below. When I saw these beauties in the nursery they were crowded in the pot and I thought it was difficult to grow, but the woman said, 'Wait a month and see how crowded the pot gets!'
How to plant it?
1. Well, Fill a medium-sized pot with a quarter of soil and compost.
2. Fill the rest with water, an inch below the tip. Place the plant on the water.
.jpg)
3. Don't worry if it slants onto a side, as it'd eventually spread itself and start growing.
4. In a matter of ten days, my plant with its five stems spread the entire pot and the surprise that I mentioned initially was Hyacinths – in just 10 days! They bloom in a bunch – the flower's a light shade of purple with a beautiful tiny yellow spot. It was a great sight. My neighbor was captivated by its sight and asked her daughter-in-law to pot one in their house too.
