An almost perfect morning

Today over 35 volunteers had come from South City, Brigade Millennium, other complexes in the neighbourhood and from across the city (thanks to Suren's "Volunteer For a Cause" forum). A few children had also joined the fun.

Unlike yesterday, when the pits had been made ready by our digger Gopal the previous day, today there were no pits as he had not turned up to work yesterday. Along with him, today morning some volunteers also began digging pits within the inner grill on the viewing deck side. Others began taking the plants from the garden to the pits for planting. More than 120 shrubs were planted today. 

While the planting was on, some volunteers opted, on their own, to remove the Parthenium (congress grass). Very soon they had collected a fairly big pile outside the gate. I'd like to particularly thank a little girl (whose name I don't know) for going about plucking the Parthenium with great zeal. She along with four or five other children got an invaluable lesson in nature conservation today. All thanks to their parents for bringing them along. 

With so many of the volunteers asking for more work at the lake, we intend to have another planting session next weekend - weather permitting. Watch this space. 

The only setback to an otherwise perfect morning was that two volunteers got hurt. Using our first aid kit, Suren and Karthik got their wounds immediately washed, cleaned and dressed. We wish them a speedy recovery and hope to see them get to work next weekend with greater vigour!

Heartfelt thanks to all!

Usha

The volunteering morning,
2nd June 2013 

Shrub planting morning

We had such a wonderful time today morning with some 18 volunteers coming from across the city to plant shrubs at our Puttenahalli Lake.

Despite the distances each of them had to travel, almost all the volunteers came on the dot at 7 a.m. and stayed on to do a great job, planting nearly 200 shrubs along the coconut grove side. 

All in a row!

Some of the volunteers

Special thanks to Surendran, Founder, Volunteer for a Cause (VFC) for forwarding our invitation and getting volunteers to work at our lake. We had volunteers from as far as Kodigehalli, beyond Whitefield (Deepa), Marathahalli (Karthik), BTM Layout, JP Nagar, Banasankari, etc. Thanks to our friends from BM, Mr. & Mrs. Gopal, Mrs. Seetha Nagaraj, Regunath Balasubramaniam and others. Greatly appreciate your presence and invaluable contribution. 

The Lake, 1st June 2013

We will plant the remaining shrubs tomorrow morning and look forward to volunteers new and old, coming again tomorrow.

Planting on 1st June 2013

As part of phase 2 of shrub planting, we have got 379 saplings from Lal Bagh. These are butterfly attracting plants such as Hamelia patens, powder puff, ixora, cup & saucer, nerium oleander, plumbago, lantana, etc. Pics below.

Please volunteer to plant them tomorrow 1st June, morning from 7 a.m.

Pits have been dug within the inner grill for these shrubs which will be maintained to a height of about 3 feet in order to deter trespassers from entering the water. 

Last Saturday our volunteers had planted 70 saplings of Vitex negondu along the Brigade Millennium - Arekere road fence.

The next round of planting may happen, if at all, only in Aug. Don't miss this opportunity to plant these beautiful flowering shrubs in 14 varieties. Come back and revel in the sight of butterflies flocking to the shrubs you had planted!