MAINTINANCE CHALLENGES OF BAGH-E-JINNAH Management of garden is a tough job.

The maintenance becomes more difficult when the purpose of garden is botanical, to preserve the local & exotic species. In the garden, the calendar or what to be done is planned according to the season. In Pakistan the summer is more severe than winter. The o it requirements of plants becomes more visible in the summer so it needs higher concentration in this season than all the others. In Begh-e- Jinnah the maintenance is surrounded by challenges. We may discuss these challenges below. 1. labour This is a severe problem in the garden. The reason behind this problem is lesser number of men per acre. The available labour in Bagh-e-Jinnah is 1.26/acre. This is the lowest available man-power in comparison with all other parks of Lahore. This is the main reason for the lapses in management of the garden. All the year round maximum number or trees, the management of the shrubs, creepers, climbers shed their leaves. The management of thee garden will always have to hire labour on daily wages. It is necessary to maintain the cleanliness of the garden for the visitors. The leaves are the main source of leaf manure used in the nurseries of Begh-e-Jinnah, which are providing the garden with all the trees, shrubs, creepers, climbers, and all the seasonal flowers. In summer the water use of plants is enhanced by higher rate of evaporation. More labour is required than the labour working in ordinary days to cope with the situation. Mowing of a huge area also requires labour. There is dire need for permanent labour because the labour on daily wages is not available, it becomes almost impossible for the management to cope with the situation. Water This is very often in the garden that water becomes unavailable. This is more frequent in the summer. The source of water is tube-well in the garden. We found it non-functional being out of order. There is no alternate source of water in the garden. Canal water supply for irrigation in Bagh-e-Jinnah has been closed from the last 7-8 years and supply tube well water for irrigation has created salinity in the garden, which is harmful for garden grass, trees, shrubs, creepers, climbers and new plantation. AVAILABILTY OF SEED & OTHER NECESSITIES THE MACHIENRY is very old which requires to be replaced but with in the existing budgetary allocation it seems to be very difficult. From nurseries point of view, the sowing of seed often get late due to the process involved in buying seeds of flowers, trees and shrubs which are not available in the garden or which are not produced by

those plants to be grown. It will not be right to say that the seeds or chemicals or fertilizers are not provided, of course they are being provided but the process delays them. MEALY BUG PROBLEM MANGO MEALY BUG This has turned into a very severe problem for last 3 years or so. It was thought to damage only fruits (it liked mango mostly so it s called mango mealy bug) but now it is almost attack on every plant that is producing new leaves. The management authorities of Bagh-e-Jinnah have noticed this quite carefully and now it is trying to be controlled. These bugs are very dangerous for the plants. They crawl up the trees and suck the sap from fresh leaves and make branches weaker. If these are fruit plants, the fruits will drop down or will be malformed. It can be controlled by series of systematic efforts directed rightly. Cultural control during November-December in which egg are destroyed through deep hoeing and burning. The placing slippery or sticky bands on the stem to stop the insect from moving up to the canopy. Chemicals control through dusting and spraying is done.