Bengaluru: Bengaluru has been witnessing construction – roads, flyovers dot this metro. Digging has made the roads narrower; none complains as it is a wait for the big infrastructure. Pillars along roadside make traffic move at snail space. But the ones along Hosur road stand tall and different – signalling green messages.

Vertical forests in China have become a huge sensation on social media. Taking a cue from that Bengaluru is to have its first vertical garden, an innovative way not just to make the city beautiful but also contribute to checking pollution.

“The city is being flooded with pillars to support the metro and flyovers. We thought of making use of this opportunity to create vertical gardens. It took four months to conceptualise vertical gardens. We had to make sure that the saplings are maintained very regularly and the vertical garden remains healthy and fights the city pollution,” says Kapil Sharma, founder of Saytrees. The aim was to make them look like a art pieces, converting all the 200 pillars on Hosur Road flyover into vertical gardens, he says.

Durgesh Agrahari, head of partnerships and projects in Saytrees says, “This pillar in Hosur road has about 3500 saplings. More than 10 varieties of saplings, sturdy and beautiful, were chosen. We make sure that garden is regularly watered though the automatic drip irrigation system. It happens daily for 20-30 minutes.”

“The entire plantation is organic. Cocopeat is used as base and jeevamruta will be used regularly to support the saplings. The saplings are sturdy and so will grow slowly, but in long run will be very strong. SayTrees also plans to have a permanent gardener once more pillars have the vertical garden installed.”