The need to accommodate local biodiversity is pressing. Indigenous trees not only need much less care and can thrive without pesticides, but they also attract local fauna making up an ecosystem that supports varied species
Outside my Mumbai window, a pair of sunbirds flashes in and out of the red-flowering Sita-Ashoka tree I had planted to replace a fallen gulmohar a decade ago. The gulmohar was one of eight exotic trees we lost on our tiny patch of roadside, and I mourned its spectacular beauty when it fell.