Seasons: Monsoon

Drops its scented white flowers at dawn — the harsingar of temple courtyards.

Grows from a bare cutting pushed into dry soil; scents a whole terrace.

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

Flowers through the hottest months on almost no water. Every part is poisonous.

Thrives on being ignored — the more you neglect it, the harder it flowers.

A winged-stemmed climber storing a heavy tuber under a monsoon trellis.

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

A small tree that lives happily in a deep pot and gives leaves all year.

Jowar — drought-hardy grain and fodder in one, on almost no inputs.

One of the small millets of tribal central India, quick and undemanding.