INSCAPE GARDEN

Situated next to Krishnamurthi Foundation of India, on the quiet end of Greenways road, Inscape Garden is an unusual nursery that boasts of some 12,000 varieties of indoor plants. It is unusual in the way the plants are displayed and because of the unusual concept that it promotes. The place is run by K V Venkatraman and K V Subramanian.

K V Subramaniam is a landscape architect by profession, who wants to inculcate the habit of growing and gifting plants among Chennaites. 'That is why the emphasis on indoor plants', he says. According to Subramaniam, every plant is an oxygen generator. So every house and office should keep atleast one plant. Keeping this in mind, they have been promoting plants that are easier to maintain and which can be kept anywhere inside the house. Plants that come in convenient small cups, decanters and brass vessels. The soil-less polymer deco gel used in decanters is a totally new concept in India, the gel comes in seven attractive colours. The life of the plant and the gel is three years. Maintenance is absolutely minimal, as all you have to do is pour one teaspoon of water the first time after 10 days and subsequently every alternate day or as and when the gel feels dry.

The brothers want to promote as much greenery as possible. We want to create a green culture, we want even children to start gifting plants. Subramaniam feels that plants are great gift ideas and you are helping the environment in the process. 'Gift a bouquet, it will last for 24 hours, but if you gift a plant, it will last for three years', says Subramaniam. Considering the fact that you can pick up a little bit of nature at Rs 30/-, which is going to last for three years, it does not seem to be a bad deal either. Subramaniam is planning to take it to the customers through select retail outlets such as Nilgiris, Shopper's Stop etc. They also plan to target corporates to propagate this concept, 'instead of chocolates and sweets, corporates can gift plants for Diwali or New Year', says Subramaniam.

Inscape has the best collection of indoor plants in the whole of Chennai. They are also the only people in Chennai, who sell natural christmas trees. Christmas trees are available from Rs 100/- onwards and the sizes range from 2 feet to 5 feet.

The brothers have been involved in some important landscaping projects for Toyota Kirloskar in Bedadi, Bangalore, Titan Jewellery, Hosur, Dr Reddy's Labs in Hyderabad, Sterilite Industries, GRT Grand Days in Chennai, they now want to develop green belts for companies in and around Chennai. Apart from this, they also provide exotic species of plants to business houses on a rental basis. They have some 30 varieties of exotic indoor plants to choose from, which they rent out as well as maintain.

Address: No 68, Greenways Road, R.A.Puram, Chennai - 600 028
Phone: 495 9261

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