Plants, Forests and their ecosystems, Auroville
Photo blog - a trip to Botanical Garden
As part of my stay in Auroville, I have been visiting spaces and experiencing a different way of living. In this blog, I want to focus on my experience of visiting the Auroville Botanical Garden. It is a space for the various ecological systems and has provided a rich space for interaction, learning, and education.
I was a part of ABG’s forest walk that happens on Wednesdays & Fridays through prior notice. The walks take you to the entire Botanical Garden and you can explore different kinds of gardens created by people from various countries at ABG.
In this blog, I want to share some insights and aspects of ecological living shared by our facilitator (Nasim).
Note: The information is based on the forest walk and would recommend verifying it before sharing it further.
The walk started with an overview of the ABG and the various sections within it such as Japanese orchids, Cactus, Forests, etc.
Red-colored leaves - She shared how the plants turn red color when they want protection from predators. It happens when the flower is young and cannot sustain on its own.
Japanese Orchids - We saw the beautiful orchids created by a person from Japan with precision. Love seeing the beautiful detailing and different kinds of plants.
Butterfly section - We were given a butterfly chart that helped the participants identify them and learn their names.
Cactus garden - This section was created by a person from Germany who was passionate about cactus. He brought their seeds from across the globe to create a section on the cactus family within ABG.
Weaver Ants - We saw there were many areas where weaver ants had created a colony of their own. It reminded me of this episode from Gordon Ramsay’s food experiences in India. He said an ant chutney out of the Weaver Ants as it is popular in many tribal or rural areas of India. Have a look!
Forests - This is the only area where they have let it grow wild. We found mushrooms, Jamun, Ant colony and so much more.
I loved the shade in the Forest
Ice apple fruit and its seeds
Valsura fruit (Tami Name) - I saw and tried this for the first time. It was a bit like Lychee when I opened it and tasted similar (but there’s nothing like the sweetness of Lychee)
Lotus vs Lily (How to spot the difference between the two?)
Beautiful conversation over Lunch
I would highly recommend going to Auroville Botanical Garden if you are here, especially on a Wednesday or Friday :)
