Hello fellow tree lovers,

  1. I have a house in Lucknow which has a bare wall of almost 20 feet length and 40 feet height. Could anyone suggest fast growing perrenial flowering creepers. Bougainvillea, Honeysuckle, mornig glory are fine, but I wonder if anyone has suggestion for something a bit more unusual, and alos, which nurseries stock them. I can get them from nurseries in Delh also, so please do suggest them.
  2. There is allo a large patch of land, about 600 sq feet where I plan to plant trees. I am looking for flowering fragrant trees, does not matter if they take 5 years from planting to bloom. Again, something that one doesn’t see everywhere. I was especially enamored by Naglingam (Couroupita guianensis), so if anyone could tell mewhere I can procure those seeds in Delhi would be great. Also, suggestions for other flowering trees and where one can find them in Lucknow or Delhi.
Thanking everyone for taking the patience of reading this. I promise to post pictures of the planted trees in full bloom whenever that is. 🙂


1. Your plot of 600 Sq Feet will be overwhemed by Naglingam. Instead you can go in for medium size trees like Golden or White Champa, Kanchan (Bauhinea blackeana).

    If you are looking for colour go for Cassia nodosa, Cassia javanica (both rosy pink) or Cassia fistula (Bahava / Amaltas) – yellow flowers or Golden Tabebuia or Milletia penguensis – mauve. 
    Never try to grow from seeds – survival is less and endlessly long to grow. Instead buy a grafted variety which will grow faster and give you blooms in a year.

    Space between each big tree should be 8 feet. In between you can add a flowering shrub or seasonals like zenia, marigold, sunflower, etc.
    Often people do mistake of planting trees saplings too close because space looks empty at the time of planting. But in a year or two it will look overcrowded and affect growth of trees.
 
2.    Creepers – You have a good 20 feet long wall. You can plant a combination of creepers spaced 5 – 7 feet apart. You can go for Pyrostegia venusta which will completely cover your wall
       as well as bloom (Orange) copiously. Clemantis (Raan chameli) needs climbing support but has white fragrant blooms. Rangoon Creeper (Madhu malati) is easy to grow and
       fragrant too. Red Passion flower (Passiflora) will add beauty as its flowers are bright red in colour.
 
CHECK NAFEES NURSERY in Lucknow District.


You can also grow Petrea volubilis. It’s blooms March-April.


have you thought of  what could you plant to support a local bird and pollinator population? are you going to live in the house immediately?
cassia etc are good but are barren 10 months
peterea: flowers in a few  weeks of year only I used to have one
you are in area where may be local Magnolias can be grown and Rhodenrons????
ylang ylang ….. the joy perfume tree…cananga odorata 
Pyara or Guava trees- leaves are good for your teeth and fruits rich source of vit c, flowers kind of fragrant and a much loved fruits by local small birds and people.
then there is lemon, citrus of any kind- their flowers are heavenly scented and fruits will give you a lifetime supply of vit c, leaves are aromatic for cooking, rich in micro-nutrients and vit a etc
list goes on -I suggest you peruse a book a two on herbal medicine and aromatherapy and while you are at it may be books on planting for butterflies and birds.
nice to be able to start from scratch. good luck and let me know how you are going on in this search
in Delhi there is a garden called ” Garden of five senses… they will be very happy to help you
that’s the message i got when i visited there this spring


Thank for your suggestions. I hadn’t planned for birds and pollinators, but it sounds like a wonderful idea. A guava tree sounds wonderful. A lemon sapling has already been planted. 🙂
I would look for cassia and ylan ylang too. I don’t mind if the tree stays barren for 10 months. Anyway, if a tree flowers year round, I will end up getting used to all the color and never feel excited about it, so it will be good if it blooms only for two months.
I will go look into trees that can host butterflies now.


I just remembered. how could i forget. look at Bimalda’s symbiosis pictures. he has hundreds and ask him. he is very generous with information and has vast experience.

ps always include  efloraindia in your replies, it may help others too


This is in response to the request of Sussrut ji.
The list of suggested climbers are,
(a ) Aristolochia ringens
( b ) Aristolochia elegans
( c ) Bignonia venusta ( GOLDEN SHOWER )
( d ) Passiflora caerulea
( e ) Passiflora holosericea( SILKY LEAF PASSION FLOWER )
( f ) Quisqualis indica ( RANGOON CREEPER )
( g ) Antigonon leptopus
Note : ( d ) and ( e ) are host plant for LEOPARD LACE WING butterfly. In addition their beautiful fragrant flowers attract number of butterfly species,
List of trees/shrubs can include
( a ) Santalum album ( CHANDAN ). Host plant for REDBASE JEZEBEL butterfly. Nectar flower for more than 50 species of butterflies. And at least 7 species of birds visit the tree for fruits.
( b ) Ixora – Quite a number of butterflies visit the flowers for nectar
( c ) Tecoma stans
( d ) Polyalthia longifolia ( MAST TREE ). Host for COMMON JAY and TAILED JAY butterflies.
( e ) Russelia juncea
( f ) Jasminum officinale
As Susrut ji is stationed at Lucknow, he will get all these from NBRI ( or at least they will be able to guide him) In addition he can contact Center for Aromatic and Medicinal plants for further guidance.
I will be able to send him seeds of NAGLINGAM and Aristolochia ringens if he desires.


The suggestions for the birding and butterfly trees are much appreciated. Even I had googled and stumbled upon the NBRI. I plan to pay a visit to them soon. If anyone in this group would know any official there, or if there is any such official reading this, your reply here would be of great help.
The dutchman pipe flower that you suggest sir, it looks most curious. Others have pointed out that my plot of land is very small for a nagalingam. That may be. But around the property there are a lot of open spaces, where I think the tree can be planted. I read though that in coming years the falling fruits could be dangerous, so I will have totake care of that. Your help would be much appreciate sir if you can send me the seeds of the two plants that you mention. Please advise how we can proceed on this
Thank you all
I am really amazed by the help and responsiveness of this forum.


Taking in all the wonderful suggestions that were offered here, here is what was finally planted in the garden for now. What was fortunate about the planting was that most of it was done on the 70th independence day or one day before, so telling the age of the trees in the coming years will be very easy. Also, it rained and rained… and then it rained some more.
Here are few photographs taken. There is an inner courtyard mostly for vegetables and fruits, and the outside patch for the shady trees and climbers.

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