Regions: North-East India

A sub-Himalayan scrambler with brick-red bracts through the cool months.

One tree feeds a street. Green for sabzi, ripe for the sweetest fruit there is.

A single sucker in a corner gives shade, cooking leaves and, in time, fruit.

A fast native shade tree with scented ball flowers and city birds in it.

A cement tub of still water becomes a dragonfly habitat in one season.

Passion flower — intricate blooms and the host plant of tawny coster butterflies.

A monsoon annual of verandah pots, with seed pods children cannot leave alone.

A Himalayan ginger relative with scented white flowers and aromatic rhizomes.

Golden champa — a tall tree whose flowers are sold by the handful at dusk.

A hill millet that tolerates waterlogging better than any other grain.