This Deepavali, gifts set to come with shades of green

“Last year, as part of a group activity, we did a seed-sharing activity, wherein we gave away seeds of country plants that can easily grow in Chennai’s climate. For instance, we packed the seeds of brinjal, chili, lemon etc,” says Shriram, who himself has a kitchen garden. Though not giving away seeds, he plans to do something on the same line to promote organic terrace gardening among friends and family. 

For some terrace gardeners, a produce from the backyard is the healthiest gift that one can give. “Everything in the market has so much of pesticides and chemicals. I have plants growing throughout the year in my garden. After end of every season, I give away the produce to my neighbours and now that Deepavali is coming, I plan to give away plants and saplings. People have to just start and they will be encouraged to try out more,” says Malini Kalyanam. 

Now, people even have options to buy seeds and saplings online. At a popular online shopping site, seeds of bonsai lemon tree are available for Rs 369. Seeds for long red chilli is sold for Rs 199 and sweet tomato seeds are available for Rs 235. 

Even big corporates and big business establishments are exploring the green gifting options. Hariharasudhan of Kaivalya Garden Centre says that every year, there has been more awareness about the concept but there is still a long way to go. However, many business houses are looking towards gifting plants and saplings to their clients. 

“The common gifting plants are the indoor and the medicinal plants. Rs 50 is the minimum one has to spend on them and the price varies depending on the packaging. For instance, we tie a message with the saplings or we gift the sapling in coir pots , avoiding the use of plastics. Recently, a hotel approached us saying that they wanted to gift seeds during the festive season. We put the seeds in a test tube, along with soil and coco peat to give it to their customers,” he says.