Regions: Central India

Huge red cups in February that feed every bird in the neighbourhood at once.

The national flower — a big tub, full sun and patience is all it takes.

Blue butterfly pea — a light climber that fixes nitrogen and makes blue tea.

The desert milkweed, smaller than gigantea and even tougher.

A relentless nectar plant — and an invasive that must be kept in a pot.

Yellow bells almost all year on a shrub that survives a forgotten terrace.

A spiny yellow-flowered shrub of dry scrub, unbothered by heat or thin soil.

Yellow chandeliers in May, when the city most needs something to look at.

The garden chrysanthemum of the north-Indian winter, sold by the crate at Diwali.

Opens at four in the afternoon and self-sows itself around the garden.