Tombisana Yumnam lives in a piece of heaven. Her third floor apartment unit has glass walls that look into her terrace garden as well as the lush green treetops outside. She began fulltime gardening only last year but has done so with thought, care and love. On her maternity leave now, Tombisana has been spending quality time with her newborn son and her fledgling garden. 

I grew up in Imphal where we had a huge plot around our house. My mother divided that plot and assigned a portion of it to each of us siblings, asking us to grow vegetables on it. And that is how I fell in love with plants.  

In Calcutta’s climate, however, I am yet to learn to grow vegetables. I’ve tried Tomato, Lettuce and Parsley on a small scale but my real passion is flowers. 

I bought 140 saplings of seasonal flowers in September last year and all but two survived — flourished, in fact — and I’m quite proud of it. 

There are Geraniums, Impatiens, Petunias, Frangipanis, Miliis, Lilies and the showstoppers — Chrysanthemums. My husband Soham Samanta likes Palms so we’ve got some of its varieties and there’s a nice Bougainvillea climbing up next to our sliding door. I want to try Orchids under a shed next. 

My son Vihaan was born in December and thereafter I wasn’t allowed to climb up the stairs to the terrace garden for a few weeks. So my husband would click photos of its progress and show me. The climax was the day I was finally allowed to go up — the garden was in full bloom and my joy knew no bounds! 

My mother had come down from Manipur for the delivery and she was proud of the garden too. She was happy that the hobby she had instilled in her children had become a lifelong passion. 

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As told to Brinda Sarkar

♦ If you have a garden you are proud of and tend to yourself, send your contact number to The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001 or call 22600115 after 4pm or email to saltlake@abpmail.com