Delhi’s Sunder Nursery is not just a green lung in the heart of the city but also a place where you can find some great saplings and plants on sale
In 2007, as part of the Commonwealth Games 2010 planning, it had been proposed that a road be built through what we now know as Sunder Nursery to connect Lodhi Road with Ring Road. While urban infrastructure is not a bad thing, this would have been a monumental folly, thankfully many conservationists and the media, The Pioneer among them opposed this plan. Instead in 2010, the Aga Khan Trust, the Archeological Survey of India, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD, which actually runs the ‘nursery’ bit) and other governmental and non-governmental agencies began work on Phase-3 of the renewal of the Nizamuddin area. This has started with Humayun’s Tomb and adjoining areas but this phase dramatically improved the 90 acres of land at Sunder Nursery, the eventual plan being to create parks and green areas totalling 900 acres in the heart of the capital.
In 2018, Vice-President of India M Venkaiah Naidu dedicated the park to the citizens of the city. Today, the park is open from early morning to early evening not just for walkers and joggers but also for those keen on buying plants and saplings for their homes. Indeed, Azim Bagh as the area was known was a green space that was converted by the British into a nursery to grow the trees that would line the roads of the new capital being built. All the Jamun trees that line Lutyens Delhi’s boulevards started their lives as saplings at Sunder Nursery. It is also home to several species of trees uniquely found just there, and any budding arborist will find the area fascinating to visit and discover trees such as the Pink Cedar. The flower gardens are also stunning through the years. And many of the trees, flowering plants and even Bonsai plants are available to the public from the CPWD nursery at prices much lower than that of the myriad private nurseries in Delhi. Buy plants and saplings above Rs 500 and your parking fees of Rs 75 are reimbursed.
One of the other major parts of the redevelopment completed two years ago was the restoration of several Mughal-era buildings, gardens and tombs. The Sunder Burj, Sunderwala Mahal and the Lakharwala Gumbad are just some examples, making Sunder Nursery a great place to learn history and with the fantastic Humayun’s Tomb a short walk away, an outing there should make it more fun for any budding historian.
The Hyundai Venue Sport we drove to Sunder Nursery is the perfect family vehicle for an outing to such an amazing site, not only has the Venue Sport fit in a family comfortably, but its large boot means that you could also buy a large number of saplings to take home and make your house and Delhi a greener space as well.