Plant library
Explore Plants
Filter by what you want to grow, the space you have and the season you are in.
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Job’s TearsगुरलुCoix lacryma-jobiHard glossy grain used as food, as beads and as a brewing grain in the hills.Proso MilletचीनाPanicum miliaceumA short-season millet of the northern hills, sown when the season has been lost.
Lady’s Slipper Orchidलेडी स्लिपरPaphiopedilum insigneA pouched terrestrial orchid of the eastern Himalaya, cool-growing and slow.Blue Vandaनील ऑर्किडVanda coeruleaThe blue vanda of Meghalaya — tessellated flowers, and protected in the wild.
Lotus-leaf PennywortखुरखुरीHydrocotyle sibthorpioidesA tiny creeping mat for the wet edge of a tub — the softest possible ground cover.
RingalरिंगालDrepanostachyum falcatumThe slender hill bamboo of Uttarakhand, cut for baskets and matting.AlderउतीसAlnus nepalensisA nitrogen-fixing pioneer of Himalayan landslides and north-eastern jhum fallows.Indian Horse ChestnutपांगरAesculus indicaBig palmate leaves and white flower candles in the western Himalayan valleys.Bottle BrushचीलCallistemon citrinusRed brushes of stamens on drooping branches; a hardy naturalised garden tree.Wild Mangoवन आमMangifera sylvaticaThe forest ancestor of the orchard mango, still fruiting in eastern hill forest.Hill Gooseberryकिलमोड़ाBerberis asiaticaA thorny yellow-wooded Himalayan shrub with blue berries and traditional root use.Himalayan CherryपदमPrunus cerasoidesPink blossom in November, out of season by every other measure — the hill wild cherry.Bird CherryपइयांPrunus cornutaA Himalayan cherry with long fruit racemes that thrushes and bulbuls strip in weeks.Himalayan OakबांजQuercus leucotrichophoraThe banj oak that holds the water in a Himalayan hillside; slow, dense and vital.Indian MahoganyटूनToona ciliataA tall hill-forest tree with pinnate leaves and scented pink-tinged timber.ChinarचिनारPlatanus orientalisThe plane tree of Kashmir, planted for four centuries and unmistakable in autumn.Not sure where to start?
Answer three questions on the home page — your region, your space and your goal — and we will name two plants to sow this month.
How the library is organised
By regionEach entry notes where the plant grows well across India, from the Gangetic plain to coastal soils.
By seasonSowing windows for every month, so you never plant a winter green in May.
By spaceWindowsill, balcony, terrace or ground — filtered so you only see what will survive with you.
Checked by a botanistNames and facts are reviewed before publication; traditional uses are labelled as traditional.