Growing spaces: ground

Pink blossom in November, out of season by every other measure — the hill wild cherry.

A Himalayan cherry with long fruit racemes that thrushes and bulbuls strip in weeks.

The tejpatta of the sub-Himalayan tract — three-veined leaves, straight off the tree.

Red brushes of stamens on drooping branches; a hardy naturalised garden tree.

Yellow flower spires and copper seed pods; the summer partner to the gulmohar.

Maroon night flowers on long ropes, then metre-long fruit that alarms everybody.

A slender Western Ghats evergreen with purple fruit that souring curries depend on.

The forest ancestor of the orchard mango, still fruiting in eastern hill forest.

The narrow green column planted along every Indian driveway and boundary wall.

A tough dry-forest tree with papery winged seeds that blanket the ground in March.