Regions: North India

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

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

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

Curtains of orange through the cool months on a big pergola.

Tall and narrow, dropping long white scented flowers through the night.

The tree the subcontinent is organised around; a grafted plant fruits in four years.

The most forgiving fruit tree for a small Indian garden or a big pot.

Fruit inside a year from seed — the fastest fruit a household can grow.

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

The white frangipani of temple gardens, tougher than the pink and just as scented.