Explore Plants
Indian plants documented for the way people actually garden — filter by what you want the plant to do, the space you have, the month you can sow and the region you are in. The result count below is live.
Use the filters on the plant archive to narrow by goal, growing space and season. Every record carries a Hindi name, a botanical name, a care note and the months in which to sow.
37 plants match your filters Answer three questions on the home page — your region, your space and your goal — and we will name two plants to sow this month.Filters3 on
Kodo MilletकोदोPaspalum scrobiculatumThe kodo of the Deccan and central hills — drought-proof and long-storing.Proso MilletचीनाPanicum miliaceumA short-season millet of the northern hills, sown when the season has been lost.
LantanaपंचफूलीLantana camaraInvasive across Indian forests — grow the sterile garden cultivars only, never the wild kind.Neem-leaf Chaste Treeनिर्गुंडीVitex negundoA scrambling roadside shrub with palmate leaves and small blue flower spikes.HennaमेहंदीLawsonia inermisThe mehndi hedge of the dry west — scented flowers and dye leaves.
VetiverखसChrysopogon zizanioidesKhus — a grass whose roots hold a slope together and scent a summer room.Cotton Nativeदेशी कपासGossypium arboreumDesi cotton — the indigenous species, hardier than the imported kinds.IndigoनीलIndigofera tinctoriaThe dye plant of history, nitrogen-fixing and undemanding.
BerबेरZiziphus mauritianaThe fruit of the dry west, cropping where irrigation is impossible.KarondaकरौंदाCarissa carandasA thorny hedge shrub that gives pickling fruit and keeps animals out.MulberryशहतूतMorus albaFruit in March, silkworm leaves all summer, and shade in between.Golden Shower VineसोनबेलPyrostegia venustaCurtains of orange through the cool months on a big pergola.MangoआमMangifera indicaThe tree the subcontinent is organised around; a grafted plant fruits in four years.TecomaतेकोमाTecoma stansYellow bells almost all year on a shrub that survives a forgotten terrace.BarleriaकटसरैयाBarleria prionitisA spiny yellow-flowered shrub of dry scrub, unbothered by heat or thin soil.KachnarकचनारBauhinia variegataOrchid-like flowers in February, and buds that go into the north-Indian kitchen.
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