Species and palette review
Every specified plant checked against soil, rainfall, temperature range, irrigation availability and maintenance capacity.
Advisory
Greenery and Plantation Consulting
Advice before execution — species strategy, plantation planning, tender scope review and honest assessment of what a site and its maintenance budget can actually sustain.
Most landscape failures are decided at the specification stage and discovered two years later. A species that does not suit the soil, a median too narrow for the trees drawn on it, an irrigation assumption based on a borewell that does not exist, a maintenance budget one-third of what the design requires — none of these are visible on a drawing, and all of them are visible on site eventually.
Consulting is the cheapest part of a landscape project and the part with the highest leverage. We review plant palettes against soil, climate and water reality, sanity-check densities and spacings, flag the species that will become liabilities, and put realistic maintenance requirements against the design so the client can fund them or simplify the scheme.
We also review tender scopes and BOQs for authorities and contractors — where under-specified pit work, missing establishment periods and unpriced irrigation are the usual gaps.
Specification notes
| Typical output | Written report with revised plant palette and risk ratings |
|---|---|
| Turnaround | 2–4 weeks for a campus; longer for corridor packages |
| Inputs needed | Drawings, soil report if available, water source details, maintenance budget |
| Optional | Nursery inspection, stage reviews and handover audit |
What you get
- A plant palette that matches the site rather than the mood board
- Maintenance cost known before planting rather than discovered after
- Tender scope gaps closed before they become variations
- Fewer replacements, lower running cost and a landscape that ages well
Scope
What the service covers
Plantation strategy
Densities, spacings, phasing, monsoon sequencing and the split between fast cover and long-term structure.
Site and soil assessment
Soil condition, drainage behaviour, salinity and topsoil availability, with remediation recommendations.
Maintenance modelling
What the design will cost to maintain annually, and where it can be simplified without losing character.
Tender and BOQ review
Scope gaps, pit and backfill specifications, establishment periods, survival clauses and measurement basis.
Value engineering
Where to spend for visible impact and where the drawing is spending money nobody will see.
Method
How the work runs
- 1. Brief and constraintsSite data, drawings, soil reports, water availability and the real maintenance budget.
- 2. Site visitGround-truthing the drawings — soil, drainage, exposure, existing vegetation and access.
- 3. AssessmentSpecies-by-species review with a risk rating and an alternative where a plant is unsuitable.
- 4. RecommendationsA written report with a revised palette, densities, phasing and maintenance requirement.
- 5. Support through executionOptional review at nursery inspection, planting and handover stages.
Plant library
Species we commonly specify for this work
Each entry carries mature size, spacing, water demand, planting window and the maintenance cycle it commits you to.
Neem
Azadirachta indica
The most reliable avenue tree in India: evergreen shade, extreme drought tolerance, no serious pest problems and roots that behave near pavement.
- Height15–20 m
- WaterLow
- MaintenanceLow
Silver Date Palm
Phoenix sylvestris
India’s native date palm and the toughest formal palm available: silver-blue crown, diamond-cut trunk, indifferent to heat, drought, dust and cold.
- Height10–15 m mature
- WaterLow once established
- MaintenanceLow
Vetiver
Chrysopogon zizanioides
The engineering plant of Indian landscapes: a deep-rooted clumping grass that holds embankments, filters runoff and stops erosion where nothing else will grow.
- Height1–1.5 m clump; trimmed to 300–500 mm in ornamental use
- WaterLow once established
- MaintenanceLow
Korean Grass
Zoysia tenuifolia / Zoysia japonica
The fine, soft, deep-green ornamental turf of premium Indian landscapes — beautiful, slow, weed-resistant once closed, and completely unsuited to foot traffic.
- HeightMown at 15–25 mm; often left unmown as a mounded carpet
- WaterModerate
- MaintenanceModerate
Tabebuia (Pink Trumpet Tree)
Tabebuia rosea
The tree that turns whole streets pink for three weeks in late winter — medium-sized, well-behaved and increasingly the signature avenue tree of Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
- Height8–15 m
- WaterModerate
- MaintenanceLow
Rhoeo
Tradescantia spathacea
The purple-backed rosette that survives full sun on a green wall and doubles as a hard-wearing groundcover — the toughest plant in the vertical garden palette.
- Height250–400 mm
- WaterLow to moderate
- MaintenanceLow
Frequently asked questions
When should greenery consulting happen on a project?
Before the BOQ is frozen. Once quantities and species are tendered, changing them becomes a variation, and the cheapest corrections — species substitution, pit specification, irrigation scope — are no longer easy.
Can you review a landscape design prepared by another consultant?
Yes. Independent review of palette, densities, irrigation assumptions and maintenance implications is one of the most common requests we get, particularly from contractors pricing a package.
Do you help with plantation for compensatory or CSR obligations?
Yes — species selection, site suitability, planting programme and the survival monitoring that these obligations usually require in writing.
Read next
Guides on this subject
Highway plantation · 5 min read
Choosing Species for Highway Median Plantation
A specification-grade guide to median planting: width thresholds, sight-line limits, species that survive dust and drought, planting densities and the maintenance cycle each choice commits you to.
Read the guideDesign · 4 min read
Low-Maintenance Landscape Design for Indian Campuses
Designing for the maintenance budget that will actually exist: lawn reduction, massing over bedding, hydro-zoning, edge detail, species discipline and the ten-year cost comparison.
Read the guideDesign · 4 min read
Native vs Ornamental Species in Indian Landscapes
How to balance native and ornamental planting on Indian projects — what native actually buys you, where ornamentals are the right answer, invasive species to avoid, and a workable ratio for real sites.
Read the guideRelated
Services usually taken alongside this one
Core service
Landscape Execution and Plantation
Full softscape execution for campuses, townships, industrial sites and public realm — from soil and levels through planting, lawns and irrigation to a working maintenance handover.
Service detailCorridor execution
Highway and Expressway Plantation
Avenue, median, embankment and interchange planting for expressway and highway packages — designed for survival at handover, not just for the drawing.
Service detailSustainability
Green Auditing
A structured baseline of how a site actually performs on water, waste, energy, landscape and biodiversity — with a prioritised roadmap instead of a certificate.
Service detailPlanning a plantation, landscape or green wall package?
Send the site details, the drawings if you have them, and the maintenance budget you expect. You will get an honest read on species, timing and what the site can actually sustain.