Regions: North India

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

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

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

Companion-planting workhorse: keeps nematodes down and feeds bees all season.

Flowers nearly all year in a warm city, and sunbirds find it within a week.

A pot by an open window does more for a summer evening than any air freshener.

The small-flowered jasmine of the monsoon, sweeter at dusk than at noon.

The Spanish jasmine of the perfume trade, grown widely in the north and west.

Green by day and overpowering by night; plant it away from a bedroom window.

An old and quick millet, sown as a catch crop when the rains come late.