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Bahrain’s garden of the year is an oasis of beauty and a haven of peace that has been created by a mother in loving memory of her son who died of a heart attack at the age of 28.
Najah Ahmed Al Khuder’s garden in Zinj, which swept the eighth Bahrain International Garden Show awards this year, is a testament of love after tragedy struck the family four years ago.
Najah said: “Four years ago this was a bare piece of land. There was nothing except a few palm trees near the boundary wall.
“After the untimely death of my son, Hamad, I was totally shattered. For almost six months I did not leave my house. I could not speak to anybody or participate in anything. One of my close friends encouraged me to work on my garden and it helped me to recover.
“Gardening has helped me find peace. There were days when I would spend my whole day in the garden busy with planning and designing beds according to the colours of the flowers, arranging the pots and working with the gardeners. From morning until night I would work and I would forget about everything else.”
The garden and beautiful green lawns surround Najah and her husband, a former minister of agriculture, Mansoor bin Rajab’s beautiful home and majlis at Zinj.
It was awarded the His Highness Shaikh Isa Bin Salman Al Khalifa Cup, Gulf Air Cup, Bahrain Garden Club Cup, Beckett Trophy, Elizabeth Wood Cup, Ministry of Municipalities Affairs Cup and the award for the Best Kept New Garden.
Najah also walked away with the first prize in the various categories for best collection of vegetables and herbs and was given the second prize for the best display of annuals.
Najah says her labour of love takes a holiday during the summer and blooms once again in the winter. In October, the soil is turned, rejuvenated with compost and natural chicken fertiliser and replanted with saplings grown in her greenhouse or from nurseries.
The garden blossoms as the temperatures drop and the vegetables begin giving fruit during the months of January, February and March.
Three gardeners work with her full-time and they help her in her experiments of introducing exotic plants that are foreign to Bahrain’s climate but hardy enough to survive.
Flowers, decorative edges, a rock garden and creepers surround the main lawn that boasts a gazebo in the centre which offers a perfect space to enjoy the herb drinks offered by the home’s generous hostess. Several vegetable patches occupy the sides and the back of her house and are cleverly planted with herbs and plants, according to their need of sun and shade.
While the list of flowers include dog flower, pansy, petunias, ixora and frangipani, the vegetable section holds pride of place in Najah’s garden.
Protected with nets, the long list of vegetables include the common carrot, brinjal, potato, onion, cabbage and cauliflowers along with the celery, various types of lettuce, Italian basil, apple wax, rosemary, garlic, apple mint, parsley, camomile, zataar from Lebanon, spinach, peppermint, ginger, curry leaves, lemon, French beans and mandarin.
While tiny strawberries are growing in hanging pots in the shade there are purple cauliflowers from Spain, a mango and a banana tree, sugarcane, turnip, broccoli and a variety of yellow beetroot from Germany.
However, the main attraction is a 300-year-old olive tree from Syria that was given to her husband as a present a couple of years ago.
Najah said that some plants were purchased as saplings while others, like her precious geraniums, have been grown from seeds and replanted in the garden. She said: “I always send baskets of vegetables and herbs to my sisters, daughters and friends.
“I am very particular that my garden is organic and I don’t use any pesticides or chemical fertilisers. I have two compost cans where all the kitchen waste and dried leaves are recycled.
“I am not very good at names so I label the seeds with the colour of the flowers and sometimes with their Arabic names so that I remember for the coming year.
“Wherever I travel, my shopping list includes a visit to the local nurseries and I first go to shop for seeds and then go shopping for clothes and shoes! We have to keep experimenting with new plants and I like taking ideas from big gardens in different countries.”
The compound also has a greenhouse which has pots of several types of chilly, capsicum and tomatoes. The latest addition is an orange bush that she says will take about four years before bearing any fruit.
