Tree tag
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After BBMP’s contemplative wall murals, here’s the next best solution to beat traffic jam blues on your way to work. Look out of the window, identify a tree, jab a finger into a colleague’s shoulder blade and scream its name. And then play jab tag all the way to work. Time will pass off like anything I’m telling you.
Well, just to get you started, here’s a list of some of Bangalore’s prettiest avenue trees that flower obligingly almost all through the year.
Clockwise from top left: Rain Tree, Rusty Shield Bearer, Champaka,Honge, Queen's Flower,Bauhinia, Frangipani, Peacock Tree
The Rain tree(Enterolobium saman) :Found everywhere in Bangalore, this enormous tree spreads a huge canopy over the streets and gardens it grows in. I’ve always imagined Enid Blyton’s Magic faraway Tree to be a cross between a giant Rain Tree and a towering Raspuri Mango. All year round, especially in June, it produces a gossamer web of delicate pink feathery flowers that slowly turn to giant seed pods that fall and melt into bumps on the roads. At night, the leaves fold into themselves, as the tree, along with all its resident bats, crows, mynahs, bulbuls and crickets, goes to sleep.
The most enormous Rain Trees in Bangalore certainly have to be the three giants at the Malleshwaram station, not to forget the goliath in front of the State Bank of India on St Marks Road.
The Rusty Shield Bearer (Or the Copper Pod Tree) (Peltophorum): Also ubiquitous to Bangalore’s streets, this big broad sturdy tree carpets roads and gardens with pretty yellow blossoms thrice a year. The flower stalks then produce rusty brown shield like pods that give this beauty its name. Caution: Ants – the big fat nasty ones, LOVE this tree, I couldn’t ever figure out why!
The Peacock Tree (Caesalpinea pulcherrimma): This tough spiny shrub-tree produces bunches of beautiful yellow-orange flowers all through the year. It is especially fond of arid regions in North Karnataka and Andhra, but blooms with obliging regularity in Bangytown too. Right now, the small bunch of Caesalpinea bushe peeping out at the passing traffic on Chinnaswamy stadium road, is in full bloom.
Champaka (or Sampige) (Michelia champaca): Did you know that the Indian Champaka is actually a magnolia? This tall beautiful mast like tree produces headily fragrant blooms through the year but mostly in the monsoon. A gorgeous lungful for all that pass by under it. Sampige road, named after the Champa trees planted along its side, especially in the 17th cross area, is the best place to view them.
Frangipani (Plumeria): Definitely up there among Bangalore’s beauteous bloomers . Blooms in a fragrant riot of colours all year round. This tree isn’t from India, and is often confused with the Indian Champaka above, especially in the north. A huge copse of blood red Frangipani is in full bloom right now at the Nehru planetarium, as you drive past the Raj Bhavan towards Chalukya Hotel.
Honge (Pongamia): This stocky, unprepossessing tree-shrub is notorious for causing major skids on the roads with its carpet of oily lilac flowers. Interestingly, it has been proven to be India’s most cooling tree, and is therefore ideal for hot or dusty places.
Queen’s Flower (Lagerstroemia): A beautiful specimen of this Western Ghat species sycophantically named named after Rani Vickie by it’s discoverer, is quite coincidentally in dramatic bloom in front of her statue at the beginning of MG Road.
Bauhinia (err.. Bauhinia) :This is an odd little tree that looks like a creeper that has coiled up around itself.It produces wispy pink and lilac flowers all year around. But its most beautiful features are its lovely heart shaped leaves. If I were Shakuntala, I’d write out my love note to Dushyanta on a Bauhinia leaf.
Bangalore Flower Power!
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“Look!” said my baby niece, pointing around excitedly. “Poo everywhere!” Ok so words in Tamil and English don’t exactly mean the same all the time, but who cares, cos it’s bloom time in Bangytown again! My favourite time of the year, when the excitement of an oncoming summer mingles with the joys of a flower laden spring. And boy, are those trees flower laden these days! Everytime I pass the copse of golden Tabebuias at the cauvery circle, a big yellow hand reaches out from them and slaps me in my face. Aside from the mysore turmeric factory, they are definitely the yellowest sight Ive seen in my life. And thanks to the good doctor Neginhal who planted a huge bunch of them in the 80s, Beansville now has a lot of people looking like they’ve been slapped in the face by a brilliantly yellow tree at the end of February. In contrast, the delicate blossoms of the Jacaranda are cooling, inspirational, and well, purple. Paint them together in a picture and I’ll bet your drawing Miss will chide you for being unrealistic. Just send her to the nearest Tabebuia for a good slapping and she’ll come back a changed woman.
Neginhal was one of few horticulturists who actually had a vision for the tree cover of Bangalore. He managed to ensure that at least one species was in bloom at any point of the year. Flowering trees unfortunately aren’t very hardy, which is why you shouldn’t park under them in the monsoon. But for the rest of the year, aren’t you glad they are around?
Here are some spots with breathtaking views of some of my favourite trees in Bangalore:
Clockwise from top left:Pink Ipe, Golden Trumpet tree, Jacaranda, White Ipe, Burmese Cassia, Gul-Mohur, Indian Laburnum, African Tulip tree, Cork Tree
Pink Ipe (Tabebuia impetiginosa) (Dec- Jan) – Pink, pink pink. Uff, what a! For me, they are synonymous with Christmas in Bangalore. The best collection of these beauties is in the Cubbon Park looking towards the Vidhana Sauda from the Central Library.
Golden Trumpet Tree (Tabebuia chrysotricha) (Feb) – Riotously yellow, they are a traffic hazard in February because of their breathtaking beauty. One of the best pure stands of this Argentinian wonder is at the Cauvery Circle in Guttahalli.
Jacaranda (Feb-Mar): Delicately beautiful, this tree carpets roads and yards all over town with fragile purple flowers. One of the most ethereal sights to see every march or so. Cubbon Park as usual has a prize collection, apart from houses all around town.
White Ipe (Tabebuia roseo-alba) (Mar): Lovely pinky-cream flowers, though not as riotously abundant as its other cousins. Edward V’s statue on the Chinnaswamy stadium road has a lovely specimen.
Burmese Cassia (Cassia renigera)(Mar-Apr): delicately pink and loverly loverly, this summer bloomer is best viewed at Edward V’s statue in Cubbon Park. Lucky dude got all the nice trees.
Gul Mohur (Delonix regia)(May-Jun): Synonymous with summer and mommie dearest’s birthday, this is definitely one of my favourites. Happy happy memories of my brother and I atop my grandmother’s huge Gulmohur, making fake nails with the calyxes of the flowers, and having sword fights with the huge flat seed pods. Best viewed at IISc, Bangalore.
The Indian Laburnum (Cassia fistula)(Jul-Aug): A madly yellow tree, has coin shaped sprays cascading down from short delicate branches. A sight for sore eyes. Sore eyes after this sight too! Not as frequently found in Bangalore as in Kerala, but there are a couple of beautiful specimens in lalbagh and Cubbon park
African Tulip Tree (Or pride of India) (Spathodea campanulata) (Aug-Sep): Gorgeous fat red blooms nestled in a sea of dark green. A bird paradise, and a wonderful sight at Dasara
The Cork Tree (Oct-Nov) (Millingtonia hortensis) : A tall, tall tree where kites and vultures roost, that casts a fragrant carpet of white tube-shaped flowers on the ground. Best viewed on Sankey road near palace cross.
Tags: Bangalore Trees
Zero Pollution Motors to deliver snazzy-looking air-powered car to U.S.
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Car maker Tata Motors announced the world’s first air-powered car last year for India, and now it’s going to be delivering a version to the U.S. starting in 2009 or early 2010. The company’s Zero Pollution Motors (ZPM) division says the $17,800 car will deliver jaw-dropping specs, such as a 1000-mile range on each fill-up of compressed air, a top speed of 96mph, and 100mpg on the gas or biofuel it takes to heat up that compressed air.
Tags: Global warming, Green Technology, Inventions
Super Eco Ad
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The World Wildlife Federation’s new billboard campaign casts a shadow to give the impression of rising water levels.
From youtube – on how it works:
LowerCO2-
The board respects celestial mechanics (Kepler Rocks!). It’s perpendicular to the equator, with an unobstructed exposure to the west. The “waves” start at about 12:00 when the sun crosses the threshold above the board. The challenge was not the sun’s azimuth, but altitude, which due to the Earth’s tilt requires the scalloped awning’s shape to be distorted so the shadow appears correct. Thanks to CBS Outdoor…
Tags: Eco Advertising, Global warming
Toyota Solar Tower – sponsored content
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Tags: Eco Advertising, Global warming
Startup Turns CO2 Into Fuel
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By Dave Demerjian | Photo by Flickr user Senor Codo.
Researchers developing alternatives to fossil fuels are working with everything from algae to babassu oil to corn, but a California company says it can recycle carbon dioxide into fuel.
Carbon Sciences claims it has developed a way of using the CO2 emitted during the combustion of coal, oil and other hydrocarbons to create transportation fuels like gasoline and jet fuel. Should Carbon Sciences — or any of the other firms working on similar projects — accomplish this on a large scale, it could bring a reduction in CO2 emissions as well as an abundant supply of renewable fuel.
Tags: CO2, Global warming, Green Technology
The Breathing Earth simulation
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Welcome to Breathing Earth. This real-time simulation displays the CO2 emissions of every country in the world, as well as their birth and death rates.
Please remember that this real time simulation is just that: a simulation. Although the CO2 emission, birth rate and death rate data used in Breathing Earth comes from reputable sources, data that measures things on such a massive scale can never be 100% accurate. Please note however that the CO2 emission levels shown here are much more likely to be too low than they are to be too high.
More at www.breathingearth.net
Tags: Birth rate, death rate
Pharox bulb
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The engineering and manufacturing of the Pharox bulb has been carried out in India, and it is estimated that if all Indians were to replace one incandescent bulb with this bulb, it would save 56 billion kWh of electricity, and 44 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, which would be equal to planting 140 million trees. (Image source: coolgreengadgets.com) Source: http://www.indiatogether.org/2009/apr/env-eneff.htm
Tags: Green Technology, Inventions
Doc injects life into fallen giants
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City-based cardiologist gives a new lease of life to two centuries-old Peepal trees uprooted for road widening
Swati Thacker, Posted On Saturday, April 18, 2009 at 01:05:04 AM | Source: Bangalore Mirror
The garden city of India is fast losing its tag due to the felling of hundreds of trees in the name of road widening. However, two centuries-old giants, which fell victim to city development, got a new lease of life, thanks to a cardiologist with a good heart for trees.
The two Peepal trees near Dasanapura were uprooted a few weeks as part of the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) project to widen the NH-4 from Goraguntepalya to Nelamangala.
Dr B Ramana Rao, a cardiologist, used to travel on this stretch on every weekend. On a Sunday, he was shocked to see the Peepal trees lying forlorn. He told Bangalore Mirror, “These two heritage trees were the most popular landmark of the area. While one of them was 225 years old, the other was standing for last 240 years. I believe in the preservation of environment and could not ignore the priceless assets lying on the roadside. So I decided to transplant the trees and instil life into them.”
However, decision to transplant the trees was not an easy one to make. There was no guarantee that the trees could live again. Besides, the traffic density was such that it was very difficult to carry the trees which weighed 37,200 kg and 53,900 kg respectively. “Both of them were lifted using a 50-tonne crane and were transported to T Begur village, about 38 kms from Bangalore on Nelamangala-Tumkur highway”, Rao said, adding that two pits, each nine feet deep were dug in the ground to re-plant the trees.
Rao bore the entire expense of the exercise. “The process took more than 40 people two days and around Rs 1 lakh. I am now happy that both the trees have sprouted fresh leaves showing signs of a renewed life”, he said.
According to Rao, mere transplantation does not ensure new life to trees. Post transplantation, the tress has to be carefully nurtured. Besides regular watering, it has to be ensured that the trees are pest-free and they are not over exposed to the sun. “If it is properly taken care of, the trees can survive for another 400 years,” Rao added.
Tags: Bangalore, Eco Saver, Garden City, passion
