Goals: Flowers & beauty

Flame-red reflexed petals on a climbing lily — the state flower of Tamil Nadu.

Long hanging chains of maroon and yellow flowers — the Mysore clock vine.

Pale crisp fruit that smells of rose water, on a small spreading evergreen.

Yellow culms striped green; the ornamental clumping bamboo of Indian gardens.

The deep red night-flowering lily of eastern tanks and temple ponds.

Enormous upright leaves for a wet shaded corner — architecture rather than a crop.

Spokes of leaf on a green stem — the marginal plant that makes a tub read as a pond.

The palmarosa of the Deccan, distilled for a rose-scented oil.

A soft-haired jasmine that flowers through the cool months on a low wall.

A pot by an open window does more for a summer evening than any air freshener.