Lily Katuwal KC, the founder of Pipal Tree’s social enterprise partner Lily’s Leaves in Nepal, was very pleased to share these images with me yesterday.
This collection may appear a little nondescript, but in reality this represents a major success for our urban nature programme through which we are planting urban forests in Kathmandu valley. As part of that, this year (and through Big Give funding) we have set up our own sapling nurseries so that we can grow what we choose from seeds rather than having to purchase what happens to be available at private nurseries.
The success in this first experiment is that the budding horticulturalists (who are young women who are deaf) have enjoyed a 70% germination rate from nine species. For the benefit of my botanist friends, these are:
Nepali hog plum (Choerospondias axilaris)
Mango (Mangifera indica)
Soapnut/Soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi)
Sisau (Dalbergia sissoo)
Indian Gooseberry (Phillanthus emblica)
Drumstick tree (Moringa oleifra)
Orchid tree (Bauhinia purpurea)
Flame of the forest (Delonix regia)
Cluster fig (Ficus racemosa)
Onwards and upwards, literally, as we bring some much needed greenery into Kathmandu valley and make a contribution to cleaning the air and improving quality of life for the city’s denizens.
If you would like to support this important work, we are inviting pledges towards this year’s Christmas Big Give (sorry, we have to collect these in the summer months!). I still need to find £9,209 in pledges towards our £25,000 pledge target, with the minimum individual pledge being £100, maximum organisational pledge of £9,209! If you can help, the link is below. Nothing is payable until after the campaign ends in December. Thanks!
