A visit to city's one of the most creative and beautiful nursery

DGI at Rajbhavan Apurva Nursery, Pune

He is a mechanical engineer by profession and a gardener by passion; has invested 30 years of life creating and growing world class plant varieties. Along the way he has innovated many gardening techniques and tools to suit every possible climate and location in the country. It was a privilege for ‘Design Green India’ to have somebody like Arun Ashar on the website as a guest gardener.

52 years old Arun Ashar has been fond of gardening since his childhood. His love to gardening became prominent in 1988 when he came to pune and bought a flat to make its terrace a garden. Those days he read and read many books on gardening, experimented, travelled around the country as well as world in search of more houseplants varieties which he could bring back to his place and grow them. 

In 1995, he started a small nursery which now after 17 years has become one of most popular garden mall ( as mentioned by Arun Ashar) in the city housing numerous varieties of roses, climbers, creepers, houseplants, cacti, succulents, bonsai and flowering plants. Gardening lovers who come here become spell bound by the beauty of the plants they see and can’t stop praising Arun’s work. 

“How he managed that number and type of houseplants?” When asked to Arun, his reply was – “passion for the plants kept me going”. Wherever he travels, he makes sure that he is bringing 2-3 indigenous flora of that place back with him. As a result his nursery is having plants varieties from all over the India. He also showed us some varieties of succulents and flowers which he brought from Ooty, Sikkin and Darjiling; then he acclimatized and cultivated those varieties in Pune. According Arun, it takes around 5 years to start full fledge production of such varieties. 

He himself has designed many creative plant pot stands, ceramic containers and moss sticks to suit small flats and houses. 

Arun showcases his work at horticulture fairs all over India where he is very much appreciated and regarded as one of the top gardeners in the country. He has tips and tricks for growing almost every possible plant. To make this point, he explained us few tricks for inducing growth in creeper variety of money plant and multiplying Alocasia amazonica with ease. Also he can tell you the name of rose variety just looking at its leaves. 

Arun now wants to make his nursery the most visited nursery in the city in coming 10 years and share the tips and tricks of growing plants with people which he has learnt all these years so that others could be benefitted.

‘Design Green India’ would recommend a visit to Arun’s nursery to its readers. Below are the contact details of Mr. Arun-

Arun Ashar

Rajbhavan Apurva Nursery,

University Circle, Pune

Maharashtra, India

Mob: +91-9823129705
Website: www.apurvanursery.in

Email: apurvanursery@rediffmail.com

Check out more pictures from the nursery.