Landscaping & garden care · Udaipur · since 2015

Gardens fit for palaces.

We design, plant and maintain gardens for palaces, heritage hotels, resorts and private estates across Rajasthan.

01 / 03
The Four-Quarter Garden
Charbagh · golden hour

A garden should earn its place

Landscaping and garden care for Rajasthan's finest properties, from the first drawing to every season after.

Since 2015Studio in Udaipur, working across Rajasthan and India
30 yearsIndustry experience behind the team
Palaces · hotels · estatesRaj Niwas, Narsingh Bagh, Inder Prakash, Lodha Farm
Own crewThe people who plant the garden are the people who maintain it
What we do

We design, plant and look after gardens.

Nature's Touch is a landscaping company in Udaipur offering landscaping services, landscape design, gardening services and garden maintenance. We work for palaces, heritage hotels, resorts, farmhouses and private homes across Rajasthan and India. We do not build walls, pools or paving. We do everything that is alive: lawns, trees, hedges, flower beds, terrace gardens, kitchen gardens, the irrigation that keeps them watered, and the year-round care that keeps them looking as they did on opening day.

The work, in plain words

Lawns & plantingNew lawns, trees, hedges, topiary, seasonal flower beds and shrub borders, chosen for Rajasthan's heat and soil.Soft Landscaping
Terrace gardensRoofs and terraces turned into usable green floors: waterproofed, planted in lightweight soil, drip-fed.Terrace Garden
IrrigationDrip and sprinkler systems designed and installed together with the planting, so nothing is watered by guesswork.Irrigation System
Kitchen gardensVegetable and herb gardens for hotel kitchens and homes: raised beds, compost, and a planting calendar for the year.Kitchen Garden
Pergolas & shadeClimbers, creepers and shade planting on pergolas, walkways and arrival courts.Pergola & Shade
MaintenanceA trained crew on a monthly contract: mowing, pruning, feeding, pest control, replanting. The same people who planted the garden.Estate Maintenance

Who it is for

Owners and managers of heritage hotels, palaces and resorts who need the grounds to look right every day of the year. Developers of farmhouses and villas who want the garden designed with the building, not added after. Families who want a terrace or a kitchen garden that actually gets used.

What you get from us

A site visit and a soil check. A drawn master plan with a full planting list and a cost. Planting and irrigation carried out by our own crew, in the right season. Then a maintenance contract, so the garden is cared for by the people who know it.

See all six services →
STEP 01

Site visit

We walk the property with you, test the soil, and note where the sun, the shade and the water are.

Week 1
STEP 02

Master plan

A drawn plan of the whole garden, a list of every plant, the irrigation layout and a budget. You approve it before anything is dug.

Weeks 2–4
STEP 03

Preparing the ground

Levels set, soil improved with compost, and the irrigation pipes laid before the plants go in.

Weeks 4–8
STEP 04

Planting

Trees, hedges, lawns and beds planted in the season that suits them, by our own crew.

Season-led
STEP 05

Care

Monthly maintenance. The garden fills out over the years under the hands that planted it.

Ongoing
01 · Our work

Gardens we have built.

Real photographs from our completed projects: hotel rooftops, estate lawns, seasonal beds and lakeside terraces, all planted and maintained by our own crew.

Heritage hotel rooftop garden, Udaipur
Heritage rooftop · Udaipur
Seasonal flower beds
Seasonal beds · Estate
Topiary garden with stone steps
Topiary & steps · Hillside
Garden terrace beside the lake
Garden terrace · Lakeside
Mass flower planting
Mass planting · Colour

◇ Photographs of completed Nature's Touch projects.

02 · Clients

Trusted by palaces and resorts.

Raj Niwas Palace, Dholpur
Raj Niwas · Dholpur
Narsingh Bagh Resort
Narsingh Bagh
Hotel Inder Prakash
Inder Prakash · Udaipur
Lodha Farm
Lodha Farm · Udaipur
03 · Services

Six services, one team.

Everything a garden needs, from the first drawing to the monthly maintenance visit, done by the same people.

All six services →
S · 01

Soft Landscaping

Lawns, trees, hedges, flower beds and shrub borders, planted in layers and chosen for Rajasthan's heat, light and soil.

View service →
Soft LandscapingLayered planting
S · 02

Terrace Garden

Rooftops and terraces turned into gardens you can use: waterproofed, planted in lightweight soil, checked for load, designed for the view.

View service →
Terrace GardenGreen floors overhead
S · 03

Irrigation System

Drip and sprinkler systems that give each plant exactly the water it needs and waste none, which matters in a desert climate.

View service →
Irrigation SystemWater, to the drop
S · 04

Kitchen Garden

Vegetable and herb gardens that supply the kitchen and look good doing it: raised beds built to the chef's list, grown organically.

View service →
Kitchen GardenLeaf, root & herb
S · 05

Estate Maintenance

Monthly care by the crew that planted the garden: mowing, pruning, feeding, pest control and replanting, so standards never slip.

View service →
Estate MaintenanceKept at opening-day standard
S · 06

Pergola & Shade

Pergolas and walkways planted with climbers for shade and scent, grown in until the structure disappears under the green.

View service →
Pergola & ShadeStructure, softened by flower
How we work

Every garden starts as a drawing. Here is how ours are made.

The sections below show the thinking behind the work: how a scheme is drawn, how it is read, how a tree grows into it, and what the soil has to do with all of it.

Lily court with fountain
Lily Court
Heritage hotel · Udaipur

A formal water court for a heritage hotel: lily pool, clipped hedging and shade trees set out on a strict axis, planted so it reads as old as the building.

Baradari pavilion with irrigation planting
Baradari Walk
Resort arrival · India

The arrival walk of a resort: a pergola planted with climbers and a drip-fed border on both sides, so guests arrive under shade rather than past a wall.

Kitchen garden beds in production
Kitchen Garden
Resort kitchen · Udaipur

A kitchen garden for a resort restaurant: raised beds laid out to the chef's list, with herbs and salad leaves nearest the kitchen door and a planting calendar for the year.

Aerial of four-quarter charbagh parterre
Four-Quarter Parterre
Private estate · Udaipur

A four-quarter lawn for a private estate: the classic charbagh layout, low hedging on the lines, and a central bed that carries colour through the seasons.

Fig. 02 · Principal
Principal of Nature's Touch Landscape
Ms. Singh Principal
Senior Horticulturist
04 · The studio

An architect’s approach to living things.

30 years

of industry experience stand behind the studio. Ms. Singh leads a team whose specialists have delivered the gardens of five-star hotels across India — that depth is in every scheme we draw.

"We do one thing — soft landscape — and we do every part of it in-house, from the drawing to the pruning."

Nature's Touch was founded in Udaipur in 2015 with a narrow brief: to bring the rigour of a design practice to planting. Not hardscape, not construction — the living half of a landscape, held to the same standard as the architecture it sits beside.

The studio is led by a senior horticulturist and works only on soft landscape: composition, specimen selection, irrigation and the long stewardship that follows. Every scheme is drawn before it is dug, and maintained by the crew that planted it.

Ms. Singh Principal · Nature's Touch Landscape · Udaipur
30
Years industry experience
5★
Hotel projects, India
06
Disciplines, in-house
01
Craft · soft landscape
05 · Concept

From sketch to finished garden.

Every garden we make starts on paper: a plan of the ground and an elevation of the building beside it, on one sheet. Below is one scheme, a water garden for a palace on Lake Pichola, from the first sketch to the planted garden. Hover the numbers to read the plan, and drag the handle further down to compare drawing and garden.

Concept sketch, plan: Pichola Palace water garden 12345
Fig. C-01 · Plan · pencil & washPichola Palace water garden
Concept sketch, elevation: palace and stepped terraces
Fig. C-02 · ElevationStepped terrace profiles

The drawing comes first.

We draw by hand first, and we draw the garden and the building together. That is how the two end up belonging to each other instead of one being added to the other afterwards.

Here the garden is laid out along a long reflecting pool, with a row of cypress trees holding the main line of sight from the palace. The terraces step down towards the water so the building and the garden read as one. Rain from the roofs is collected and returned to the pool. Hover a number to see what each part is.

1
Reflecting pool
20 × 40 m
2
Central fountain
Octagonal basin
3
Star parterre
Clipped hedging
4
Cypress allée
Cupressus sempervirens
5
Palace footprint
Jharokha colonnade
SchemePichola Palace water garden
Reflecting pool20 × 40 m
AxisCupressus sempervirens allée
PlantingBougainvillea, oleander,
jacaranda, laburnum
WaterRainwater catchment, recirculating
PavingLocally sourced stone
The same garden: drawing on the left, planted on the right. Drag to compare.
Garden, realised
Garden, concept sketch
Concept sketch
Realised
◇ Drag the handle, or use ← → keys

What happens between the sketch and the garden

The drawing on this page is the start, not the whole job. From it we produce a set of working drawings that the crew builds from, and that you keep. Every plant on the site has a place on paper before it has a place in the ground.

Because the irrigation is drawn at the same time as the planting, the pipes go in first and the plants go in over them. Nothing is dug up twice. And because the crew that plants the garden is the crew that maintains it, the drawings stay in use for years after the garden opens.

The drawings you receive

L-01 · Master planThe whole garden on one sheet: lawns, beds, trees, paths, water, levels.
L-02 · Planting planEvery plant by name, its position, its size at planting and the quantity ordered.
L-03 · IrrigationDrip lines, sprinkler zones, valves and the water source, laid out to match the planting.
L-04 · SectionsCut-through views showing levels, soil depths and how terraces step.
Care calendarMonth by month: what is pruned, fed, sown or replaced, and when.
06 · Master plan

What a master plan looks like.

This is the drawing you receive before anything is dug: every lawn, bed, tree and water feature in its place. Hover a zone on the plan, or a line of the legend, to see that part of the scheme.

B · 02

Charbagh parterres

Four planted quadrants in the classical Rajput layout, divided by water. Seasonal colour is rotated bed by bed so the scheme never reads bare.

N ↑ NATURE'S TOUCH CHARBAGH SCHEME SCALE 1:200 SHT L-02 REV A 012m
Plan legend
  • A Water tank & fountain
  • B Charbagh parterres
  • C Cypress allée
  • D Baradari pavilion
  • E Pool court
  • F Pergola walk
  • G Kitchen garden
07 · Growth study

A garden is drawn, then it grows.

One tree, drawn the way it grows: six metres of crown above the ground and roughly the same reach of root below it. A garden is planted small and grows into the drawing over years. That is why we plan for the size a tree will become, not the size it arrives.

6.0 mROOT ZONEWATER RILLCYPRESSFIG. G-01 · GROWTH STUDYCANOPY SPREAD 7.2 m6.0 m−0.9 mROOT PLATE ⌀ 4.8 mCLEAR STEM 2.1 mMULCH RING 1.2 mCROWN — 60% LIGHT TRANSMISSIONFIBROUS ROOT ZONE −0.3 to −0.9 mSCALE 1:10005 mN
Fig. G-01 · Canopy 6.0 m · roots to −0.9 m · what is above ground is matched below it
YEAR 0

Planting

Pits dug wide rather than deep. Compost mixed into the soil. Each tree staked, mulched and fitted with its own drip line. Watered daily through the first summer.

What we do · plant & protect
YEAR 1

Taking root

Little happens above ground; a great deal below. Roots push out into the surrounding soil. We check weekly, feed, and do the first light pruning.

What we do · feed & watch
YEAR 3

Filling out

The canopy begins to cast real shade. Hedges close up, lawns knit together. Drip lines are moved outward as the roots spread.

What we do · shape & adjust
YEAR 5

Grown in

The garden now looks like the drawing. Pruning shapes rather than trains. Watering can drop, because the roots reach deeper on their own.

What we do · maintain
YEAR 10

Mature

The trees carry the garden. Beneath them the planting is renewed in cycles, and the soil is richer than the day we started.

What we do · renew
08 · The soil

What is going on under the lawn.

A garden is only as good as the ground it stands in. This drawing is a cut through a planted lawn, two metres deep, showing what a tree needs from the soil and what lives in it. We read every site this way before we plant, because most garden failures start below the surface, not above it.

GROUND LEVELOLITTERATOPSOILEPALE LAYERBSUBSOILCROCKRBEDROCK0 m−0.5 m−1 m−2 m6 mNATURE'S TOUCHSOIL & ROOT SECTIONDEPTHS TO SCALESHTS-01REV ASCALE 1:201 mA-A12345678
Fig. S-01 Section through a planted lawn · scale 1:20
  1. 1 Tree canopy: shade, and leaves giving off water
  2. 2 Drip pipe, 15 cm below the surface
  3. 3 Earthworm
  4. 4 Fungal threads
  5. 5 Helper fungi on the roots
  6. 6 Tiny soil worms
  7. 7 Crumbly soil: air and water move freely
  8. 8 Water table, rises in the monsoon

The drawing, layer by layer

Leaf litterThe top few centimetres: fallen leaves and mulch. This is what keeps the soil cool and moist in a Rajasthan summer. We put it there on purpose.
TopsoilThe dark, living layer. Most of the roots, worms, fungi and bacteria are here. Good topsoil is the single biggest difference between a garden that thrives and one that struggles.
Pale layerWhere years of water have washed the goodness downward. Thin and poor on its own. Deep roots pass straight through it.
SubsoilFirmer and less alive, but this is where a tree anchors itself and finds water in the dry months. If it is compacted, trees stay small. We loosen it before planting.
Broken rockRock slowly breaking down into soil. Drains freely. Roots rarely go past it.
BedrockSolid rock. The water table sits above it and rises during the monsoon, which is why some sites flood at the roots and need drainage.

What lives there, and why it matters

Earthworms tunnel through the topsoil and let air and water in. Fungal threads (the fine lines in the drawing) link up with tree roots and fetch water and minerals the roots cannot reach on their own; we call these helper fungi. Soil bacteria break down the leaf litter into food for plants. None of this survives chemical fertiliser used carelessly, which is why we feed the soil with compost and mulch instead.

What we do with this

Before drawing a planting plan we dig a pit on site and read these layers. That tells us how deep the topsoil is, whether the subsoil is compacted, where the water sits, and which trees will be happy there. The drip pipe in the drawing sits fifteen centimetres down so water reaches the roots and not the air, and the canopy above shades the ground so less of it evaporates. Every scheme we plant is designed from a hole in the ground first.

In practice

This is not decoration. It is the reason our gardens are still healthy in their tenth summer: the soil was understood before the first plant went in, and it has been fed, mulched and watered properly ever since.

09 · Our principles

We grow gardens the way the ground wants to grow.

Four rules we work by on every site. We build up the soil instead of replacing it. We feed it with compost, not chemicals. We use as little water as the climate allows and lose as little of it as possible. And we choose plants that bring birds and butterflies back, so the garden is alive on the day it opens and richer every year after.

The living soil

A handful of healthy garden soil holds billions of living things: bacteria, fungi, tiny worms and the earthworms you can see. Together they feed the plants, hold the soil in crumbs that keep water, and keep disease down. Look after them and the garden largely looks after itself.

ROOT AND ROOT HAIRSHELPER FUNGI ON THE ROOTBACTERIASINGLE-CELL LIFETINY WORMSEARTHWORMSOIL MITESFIG. B-01 · WHAT LIVES IN A HANDFUL OF GOOD SOIL
Fig. B-01 · The living soil · original drawing
GROUND LEVEL0−0.5−1.0−1.6 mFIG. H-01 · THE SOIL LAYERS, TOP TO BOTTOM
Fig. H-01 · Soil horizons · original drawing

Read the ground first

Before we choose a single plant we dig a pit and read the soil in layers: the leaf litter on top, the dark topsoil, the pale washed-out band, the firmer subsoil, then broken rock and finally bedrock. How thick each layer is tells us how deep roots can go, where water sits, and which trees will do well.

Udaipur's ground runs shallow and stony, with bedrock close beneath. We plant to the profile we find, not the one we wish for — which is why the gardens hold.

01

Nutrient cycling

Tiny soil life turns dead leaves and roots into food that plants can actually take up.

02

Structure building

It glues soil into small crumbs, and the gaps between them hold the air and water roots need.

03

Disease suppression

A soil full of healthy life leaves little room for the pests and diseases that attack weak plants.

How we protect it

Soil care, not soil chemistry

Hands lifting crop residue to show intact roots in undisturbed, no-till soil
01

No-till ground

We dig and turn the soil as little as possible, so the fungal network and the crumb structure that holds water are not broken.

Vegetable beds kept covered with straw mulch and living groundcover
02

Cover & mulch

Bare earth is kept covered — living groundcover or a 50–75 mm mulch — feeding the soil and holding moisture through the heat.

A handful of organic compost worked in around a brinjal plant
03

Compost, not salts

We feed the ground with organic compost rather than heavy synthetic fertiliser, keeping the microbial life diverse and fed.

Ladybird feeding on aphids on a leaf — natural pest control
04

No routine pesticide

Beneficial insects and microbes do the pest control. We reach for chemistry last, not first — never as routine.

Water, conserved

Every drop, in a desert climate

Drought-tolerant xeriscape planting zones

Hydrozoning

Plants are grouped by how much water they need: tough, drought-happy planting across the wider grounds, and the thirstier beds kept small and close to the building.

Drip irrigation delivering water to the root

Drip, to the root

Drip pipes deliver water straight to the roots, underground, so almost none of it is lost to the Udaipur sun.

Rain barrel capturing rainwater for the garden

Rainwater capture

Roof and hardscape run-off is caught and returned to the garden rather than sent to the drain.

Bark mulch conserving soil moisture

Mulch & morning

A mulch blanket traps soil moisture; irrigation runs at first light, before the day can steal it.

Eco-friendly materials & planting

Built to sit lightly on the land

Dry-climate border of ornamental grasses, purple sage and yellow lantana among stone

Native & adapted species

Plants that belong to this climate thrive on natural rainfall and ask little once established.

Stepping-stone path set in loose gravel so rain soaks through the joints

Permeable ground

Open-grid paving, gravel and stone let rain soak back into the earth instead of running off.

Raised vegetable bed built from weathered reclaimed timber, planted with lettuce, kale and herbs

Reclaimed timber

Raised beds and borders built from salvaged wood where the brief allows.

Front garden of grasses, groundcover and flowering perennials with a gravel path in place of lawn

Less lawn

High-thirst turf swapped for groundcover, meadow and planting that works with the microclimate.

Planting for birds & butterflies

A garden that comes alive

We compose a mix of open landing pads for butterflies and long-lasting seed heads for foraging birds. A sample of the palette we plant for wildlife value:

Plant
Butterflies
Birds
Season
Note
Lantana
High
Low
Summer – autumn
Nectar-dense flower clusters; thrives in heat.
Salvia
High
Medium
Spring – autumn
Tubular blooms for butterflies and sunbirds.
Cosmos
Medium
High
Summer – autumn
Easy annual; seed heads feed foraging birds.
Sunflower
Medium
High
Summer – autumn
Large faces draw insects; seeds for songbirds.
Marigold
Medium
Low
Year-round
Hardy border colour; steady nectar.
Coneflower
High
High
Summer – winter
Blooms for pollinators, winter seed for finches.

Legend High Medium Low  · Palette adapts to each site's aspect, soil and water.

10 · Reference gardens

The gardens we learn from.

Before we draw, we look at the best gardens of Rajasthan and beyond: how the lawns are edged, how the water sits, where the shade falls. These are not our projects; they are the standard we design to.

PR · 01Precedent study: Cusped arch · topiary as punctuation
Cusped arch · topiary as punctuation
PR · 02Precedent study: Star parterre · Mughal water geometry
Star parterre · Mughal water geometry
PR · 03Precedent study: Palace courtyard · flower parterres on a marble axis
Palace courtyard · flower parterres on a marble axis
PR · 04Precedent study: Rose parterre · pavilion as focal point
Rose parterre · pavilion as focal point
PR · 05Precedent study: Scalloped bed edging · lawn geometry
Scalloped bed edging · lawn geometry
PR · 06Precedent study: Palm allée · processional arrival
Palm allée · processional arrival
PR · 07Precedent study: Resort terrace · light as planting
Resort terrace · light as planting
PR · 08Precedent study: Contemporary court · concealed lighting
Contemporary court · concealed lighting
Note

Reference imagery only. These are precedent studies of historic and contemporary gardens by others — not works by Nature's Touch. Our own built projects appear in Realisation.

11 · Visualisations

See the garden before it exists.

For larger schemes we render the master plan as a picture, so you can see and approve the finished garden before a spade touches the soil. These are design visuals, not photographs.

Nature's Touch© was built on a single conviction: that a garden is not decoration.

Studio Philosophy

It is stewardship. Every soil turned, every root established, every season carried is a choice that shapes how a garden lives.

12 · Begin a scheme

Planning a garden for your property?

Tell us about the site and the season you're working towards. We'll arrange a survey and return a drawn master plan — the way every garden here begins.

◇ We reply within two working days