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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Himalayan OakबांजQuercus leucotrichophoraThe banj oak that holds the water in a Himalayan hillside; slow, dense and vital.
Indian Horse ChestnutपांगरAesculus indicaBig palmate leaves and white flower candles in the western Himalayan valleys.
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.
ChinarचिनारPlatanus orientalisThe plane tree of Kashmir, planted for four centuries and unmistakable in autumn.
Blue PineकैलPinus wallichianaLong soft needles in fives; the pine of the mid-Himalayan slopes.
Chir Pineचीड़Pinus roxburghiiThe resin pine of the lower Himalaya, and the needle litter that makes those fires.
Wild AppleबनसेबDocynia indicaA north-eastern hill fruit, sour and used for pickle and jam.
RhododendronबुरांशRhododendron arboreumBuransh — scarlet trusses across the mid-Himalaya in March.
DeodarदेवदारCedrus deodaraThe Himalayan cedar — a slow, magnificent, cold-climate conifer.
Seabuckthornलेह बेरीHippophae rhamnoidesA cold-desert shrub of Ladakh, nitrogen-fixing and vitamin-dense.
MulberryशहतूतMorus albaFruit in March, silkworm leaves all summer, and shade in between.
Chinese Hat Plantटोपी फूलHolmskioldia sanguineaA sub-Himalayan scrambler with brick-red bracts through the cool months.
Golden Shower VineसोनबेलPyrostegia venustaCurtains of orange through the cool months on a big pergola.
SunflowerसूरजमुखीHelianthus annuusA fortnight of spectacle and then a head of seed the birds will take.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.