Category Archives: garden city

Chandigarh – The Beautiful Garden City of Northern India

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Planning a trip to India? Welcome to the city of gardens – Chandigarh – states capital and a Union Territory*. Chandigarh, designed by the famous architect Le Corbusier, is a rare example of a seamless blend of modernisation and the nature’s preservation. Apparently it is the only city where the two entirely opposite concepts – serenity and city – come together to add to the beauty of the city.

Trees and plants are an equal part of the construction plans as the buildings and roads. Keeping up to its name of ‘The City Beautiful’ country’s first planned city, built in 1953, is a rich, prosperous, spic and span, green city which boasts of various gardens and parks that not only add to the greens of the city but also helps in keeping the pollution levels in check.

Some of the best and famous gardens in Chandigarh are as follows. These gardens are a must visit for anyone and everyone.

1. Rose Garden

Zakir Rose Garden, Asia’s largest rose garden, is spread across area of 30 acres and boasts of 50,000 rose-bushes with 1600 varieties of roses planted in a beautifully carved out lawns and flower beds. ‘Smell the roses’ is an apt description of what you can do here. In fact the collection includes not only natural varieties but also many hybrid varieties cultivated through tissue culture. And some of them are rare varieties of rose. Beautifully manicured lawns with the heady fragrance of roses make it an ideal spot for picnic or romantic getaway for the couples. The garden was planned and conceived in 1967 under the expert guidance of Dr M S Randhawa because of his prolific interest in horticulture and fondness for flowers and is named after India’s president Zakir Hussain. The best time to visit this garden is between February and March. The famous Rose festival is celebrated here with a great pomp and show either in February end or beginning of March. It is touted as one of the biggest celebrations in the city and more than 20,000 people visit this festival.

2. Pinjore gardens

Also known as Yadavindra gardens, Pinjore gardens lies on the foothills of lower Shivalik ranges and is 20 kilometres from Chandigarh and 15 kilometres from Panchkula. One of the most popular and fascinating Mughal gardens makes for a perfect picnic spot with manicured lawns and the weekends are the best time to visit these gardens as the fountains are switched on and the lights reflecting on the palaces makes a beautiful picture.

The gardens boasts of flagged pathways running to the outer reaches of the creeper covered wall and various trees like Palm, mango, shapely cypresses, and dense groves of trees give a mysterious look to the garden. The garden was designed by Nawab Fadia Khan – foster brother of Aurangazeb the Mughal emperor – and kept the design on the classic Charbagh pattern with a water body in the centre. After the death of Fadia Khan the garden was neglected until the Maharaja of Patiala (Punjab) Yadavindra Singh restored the gardens to its present glory hence the name Yadavindra gardens.

3. Garden of fragrance

Chandigarh’s garden of fragrance is a must visit garden of the city and is located at the southern side of Hibiscus garden in sector 36. Famous for its distinctive aromatic and fragrant plants, the garden boasts of plants like damask rose, Queen of the night, Motia, Champa, Haar Shingar, Hennaand varieties of Jasmine. Owing to its fragrant plants and green manicured lawns the garden of fragrance is a fabulous picnic spot. There are tracks for the fitness freaks to enjoy their walks or daily workouts.

4. Chandigarh Bougainvillea Park

Chandigarh Bougainvillea Park, celebrated for its colour and beauty, the variety of bougainvillea, attracts tourists from all over the country and world. The garden brags about 65 different types of bougainvillea in various hues and colours which is a mesmerising sight. Situated in sector 3 Chandigarh, the park was first opened to the public in 1976 and has been captivating the tourists’ attention since then. Beautifully enshrouding the bowers, arches, pavilions, and arcades are creepers comprehensive area in the park. The celebrated bougainvillea show is organised here to celebrate the beauty and variety of bougainvillea.

Enthralling the visitors since it was first opened to the public the park is a pride of Chandigarh.

5. Terraced flower gardens

Located in the sector 33, Chandigarh — the terrace garden was set up in 1979 covering the area of 10 acres. Lighted musical fountain is the main attraction of this garden. The popular annual Chrysanthemum show is held here. With some exquisite varieties of flowering plants the atmosphere is tranquil and residents are often come here to enjoy the cool breeze and to feast their eyes on the surrounding beauty.

* A Union Territory is a sub-national administrative division of India, in the federal framework of governance. Unlike the states of India, which have their own elected governments, union territories are ruled directly by the federal government; the President of India appoints an Administrator or Lieutenant-Governor for each territory

Hotels in Bangalore – Budget Stay in the Garden City

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Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka and has a host of attractions for its tourists. It serves as a base for trips to places located at close proximity (Halebid, Mysore, Hampi and Puttaparthi) for the traveller on a limited budget.

Bangalore hotels cater to everyone from tourists looking to splurge to families on a vacation.

Hotel Ballal Residency

The Ballal Residency is located on Bangalore’s Residency Road, at close proximity to the business centre M G Road and the shopping hubs of Brigade Road and Commercial Street. The hotel has 63 twin bedded deluxe rooms and four luxury suites with air conditioning and offers a flexible 24 hour check out facility.

The Palmgrove restaurant offers a wide spread of cuisines. The in-house travel desk and car rental service enables guests to travel in ease. The hotel is located 20 km away from the airport ad 6 km away from the railway station. The board room and conference hall facilities can accommodate up to 100 guests.

Hotel Pai Viceroy, Jayanagar

Hotel Pai Viceroy is located in the suburb of Jayanagar, at a distance of 35 km from the airport and 10 km from the city’s business hub, M G Road. The hotel is one of the best hotels in Bangalore offering comfortable stay at economical prices.

The rooms are comfortable and furnished with mini fridge, coffee maker, LCD television and complimentary access to a WIFI network. The hotel also provides travel desk, car rental and money changing facilities. The in-house restaurant, The Royal Corner offers choice vegetarian cuisine.

The board room can accommodate 25 people with ease whilst the two conference halls can accommodate a total of 600 persons.

The Woodlands Hotel

The Woodlands Hotel is one of the oldest hotels in Bangalore. It is one of the major landmarks of the garden city and is the forerunner in the hospitality industry.

The hotel is located on Raja Ram Muhun Roy Circle at a distance of 20 km from the airport. It is a mere 7 km away from M G Road, the city’s business centre.

The Woodlands Hotel offers room service, 24 hours hot and cold water, WIFI connection and tea coffee makers in every room. The travel desk, car rental service, business desk and doctor on call facilities are aimed at making life easy for the guest.

The restaurants are named Sunehri and Woody’s and offer tasty fare. The bar – The French Connection, offers guests a place to network and socialise.

Hotel Stay Inn

Hotel Stay Inn is located near Cantonment Railway Station and at an easy distance from M G Road and Cunningham Road.

The 20 rooms are comfortably furnished and offer 24 hours check out facility. Complimentary WIFI connections, television sets, room service and laundry services offered by the hotel ensure a pleasant stay.

Small Gardens – The City Garden

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Small but nice

Because gardening gets a lot of attention nowadays, a lot of people are busy with their garden. Also the city garden gets more and more attention. We are overloaded with ideas and materials and this makes it hard to choose.

Our gardens get smaller and smaller, think about the city garden, but the offer in materials gets bigger and bigger. Often you achieve more with less, but carefully chosen products than buying products without thinking. This applies for every kind of garden.

Characteristics City Garden

Many times a city garden is enclosed by walls and fences of surrounding houses. This privacy is the main characteristic of a city garden and creates a patio-like atmosphere. The atmosphere in such kind of gardens is different than in gardens outside the city. In the summer the heat will stay longer between the walls and in the winter it will be less cold because the walls will give off heat. The dimension of a city garden might vary a lot. Just like gardens in outside areas there will be small and big city gardens.

Design

For a small garden it’s important to make a clear design. When you don’t do that the garden will always look a little ‘messy’. Clear lines in the paving will give the garden an extra dimension. It’s also important that the garden looks nice when viewed from above, this give an extra value to your garden.

Planting

In a small garden the choice of plants is very important. That’s why you should choose plants that will flower a longer time and which still have ornamental value after flowering. Green details are indispensable in a winter garden. Therefore it is wise to consult some special books before buying your plants. There are a lot of books with good explanations about the properties of certain kind of plants. You need some more time, but you will see that your garden will become more of yourself.

Maintenance

It’s also important to think about the work that has to be done in your garden. In a small garden container plants and flower pots might give you a lot of work. Not only the dimensions of your garden determines the maintenance your garden needs.

Walls

If you have a garden with ugly walls or fences it’s better to camouflage them. You can let ivy grow against them or paint the walls. By using pergolas and creepers you can use the space in your garden in an even better way. Vertical gardening gives lots of extra possibilities and a shady atmosphere. Against painted walls you might put a wooden frame in a nice color and shape, this will create a great effect. It’s also possible to put a rose bow against a wall and between the rose bow you could put a mirror. Because of the reflexion of the garden in the mirror your garden will suddenly look bigger. For this you can use an ordinary mirror, but take care that you cover the backside of the mirror with red lead first.

Water

A gargoyle or bubble stone are also nice elements in a small city garden. The sound of splattering water will drown the noises of the city and it works refreshing. Another advantage of water in your garden is that it attracts birds and other animals.

Chris

http://www.gardentipsandinfo.com