Entrepreneurship in Flower Nursery, Near Nizamuddin Bridge, Delhi

While visiting Swaminarayana Akshardham in Delhi, I took a bus from Vir Hakikat Rai Interstate Bus Stand, Sarai Kale Khan. While crossing the Nizamuddin Bridge, I noticed attractive and big-size flowers on the left side. There are many of them and I was drawn to their beauty and size. So, while returning from my visit to Akshardham, I decided to stroll down the distance, which actually proved to be considerable given that I had not eaten too much and had already walked quite a distance. If I had taken a bus, I would not have got the chance to talk the owner of that nursery. But anyway, it was worth it and I did not rue my decision later either.

I asked one of the vendors on the road-side whether I could take photographs of the flowers? Spurred by the affirmative, I started clicking them when one of the young guy standing and observing me, asked me to come down (the nursery was located at a very lower level than the road) and shoot pictures. To my great delight, I got superfluity and abundance. There were around 30-40 types of flowers that I could shoot.

Now, I talked to the lady in-charge: Neha. She and her husband Vijay Verma run that nursery of plants. She told me that there are plants for winters, for summers, for the entire year and also for indoor use. When asked where they source these plants, she mentioned that cities like Bareily, Dehradun, and Agra are main sources. For indoor plants, they get supply from Kolkata.Usually, the order is placed when the stock needs replenishment. This is done through calling the supplier but they often visit the places to make sure the flowers are of good quality. These flowers are sold for Rs. 40-50 including the vase that contains them.

While talking about the lasting value of these flowers, she mentioned that these winter flowers would last for around 4 months starting from December to April. She mentioned that she manages to sell around 5-6 of these plants on daily basis because she said that if she had more plants and bigger space, she could sell more. This could be on lower side given the obvious reason that she did not want to give the exact figure.

She said that the customer profile usually focused on people who want to buy these flowers for their homes. She said that corporate offices do not buy these flowers. This could be because corporate houses goes for decorative plants, in-door plants and plants-on-rent.

I noticed that there were mongooses around the nursery. I saw them 3 times but could not take any pictures because they hid themselves in the cluster of vases. While asking about whether they destroy plants, Neha mentioned that they do not any disturbance. In fact, they help keeping rodents and snakes away.

This actually made me to look on particular types of plants which looked like cabbage. On inquiry, Neha told me that they are called ‘cabbage flowers’ and are used for decoration purposes. The price range is similar to regular flowers.

The nature and open environment of this nursery gives you a sense of peace, which you won’t find easily in traffic-ridden roads of Delhi. The family enjoys closeness while they carry out their family-run-home-based business as entrepreneurs.