Terrace Garden in Kolkata

The dry season, with its lower temperatures and far less humidity than the rest of the year, is when a Kolkata terrace garden carries its best flowering display, and we plan the bulk of the seasonal colour for exactly this window rather than spreading it evenly across the year.

Through the hot, humid months that lead into the rains, we lean on foliage and structural plants that hold their look without the flowering that would struggle in that heat and damp.

Getting the terrace ready before the flowers go in

None of that seasonal planting matters if the terrace floor is not graded and drained first, since a terrace that pools water even briefly during the wet months will damage the waterproofing underneath the planters over a few seasons.

We raise planters off the terrace floor and lay drainage channels before choosing a single plant, since fixing that after a garden is finished means lifting it.

Materials chosen for this climate

Unglazed terracotta pots dry out fast in Kolkata's dry season and stay too wet in the rains, so we favour glazed or plastic-lined containers that hold moisture more evenly across both extremes.

Planter placement also accounts for afternoon sun through the hot months, since a terrace that gets full exposure for hours needs a different watering routine than one that is shaded by a neighbouring building.

A garden that ages well, not just one that looks good on day one

A terrace garden planted for an immediate full look often thins out within a year once the faster-growing filler plants are removed, so we plan the layout around what the space will look like once the slower, permanent planting has matured.

That approach costs the garden some fullness in its first few months, which we explain at the design stage rather than let the client discover it later.