Reclaiming nature’s many delights through living fences [Book Review]

My neighbour in Gurugram has a hedge of roses and jasmines outside the brick wall of her house. Just before the rains it is fragrant with white jasmines and in the winter season there are clusters of small pink and white roses on the hedge. My house, also in Gurugram, has a hedgerow of hibiscus trees outside a brick and grill fencing. The trees are uneven and in the flowering season, which is almost round the year, there are red, orange and pink hibiscus flowers. Both the hedge and the hedgerow attract squirrels, butterflies and birds. I have seen bulbuls nesting in the thickest parts of the hedgerow. In the hot summer months, many people put earthen pots of water for birds and squirrels adjacent to the fencing or in courtyards. There were also chameleons, before Gurugram became highly urbanised. During the rainy season, I have also seen many snakes in the undergrowth. A few months ago, I spotted one in the tree fencing that separates my house and my sister’s. The adjoining tall and stately kanak champa (Pterospermum acerifolium) also in the fenced area, is home to many birds and bees, the latter occasionally building their honeycombs in them or the adjoining tall trees. These fences, teeming with life, still exist at a time when floods, climate change and the rampant growth of brick and concrete buildings and industrial hubs are decimating our rural and urban landscapes and eating into the spaces of birds, bees and a myriad other creatures…This article was originally published on Mongabay