Regions: Central India

Velvet crested heads that hold colour for weeks, in sun or half shade.

The most reliable cut flower for an Indian summer terrace.

A fortnight of spectacle and then a head of seed the birds will take.

Opens in full sun on a terrace where nothing else will survive noon.

Orange flower clusters straight off the trunk — a sacred tree, now threatened.

Flame of the forest — bare branches and orange flowers through the dry spring.

One corm fills a large pot and returns a much bigger one in a year.

The fastest useful tree there is — 3 m in a year, edible leaves and pods.

Plant single cloves in October and lift whole bulbs in March.

Grown from sets or seedlings; needs depth, sun and patience.