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.
70 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
Proso MilletचीनाPanicum miliaceumA short-season millet of the northern hills, sown when the season has been lost.RiceधानOryza sativaHalf the country’s calories — and a bucket of it on a terrace teaches more than any book.Water Spinachकलमी सागIpomoea aquaticaGrows on water or wet mud and crops every fortnight through the monsoon.TaroअरबीColocasia esculentaBig heart leaves on a wet corner; the corm below and the leaf above both go to the…
Water Chestnutसिंघाड़ाTrapa natansSinghara — a floating annual grown in ponds and tanks across the north and east.Indian Water FernअजोलाAzolla pinnataA floating fern that fixes nitrogen — fertiliser and fodder that grows itself.
Sabjaसब्जाOcimum basilicum (seed type)Grown for the seed that swells in falooda and summer sherbets.Sugarcaneगन्नाSaccharum officinarumA few canes in a corner give juice, gur and a green screen by October.
ApricotखुबानीPrunus armeniacaLadakh and Himachal fruit — blossom in March, fruit in June, dried for winter.Indian Bay Leafतेजपत्ताCinnamomum tamalaThe tejpatta of north Indian cooking — a hill tree, not the Mediterranean bay.BerबेरZiziphus mauritianaThe fruit of the dry west, cropping where irrigation is impossible.Indian GooseberryआमलाPhyllanthus emblicaFeathery-leaved and drought-hardy; one grafted tree feeds a household in winter.
KarondaकरौंदाCarissa carandasA thorny hedge shrub that gives pickling fruit and keeps animals out.PhalsaफालसाGrewia asiaticaSmall sour-sweet berries in May, from a shrub that shrugs off a Delhi summer.MulberryशहतूतMorus albaFruit in March, silkworm leaves all summer, and shade in between.FigअंजीरFicus caricaTwo crops a year in the west, and content in a large container.
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