If you want to be right on-trend with your garden, go for the exotic jungly look. It’s bound to get your visitors – and neighbours – talking! Here is how.
1. Layer it
The tallest plants – e.g. palms, like the hardy Trachycarpus or an Indian bean tree (Catalpa) - will give you the canopy. Beneath that, shade tolerant shrubs and herbaceous plants form the middle layer and the ground cover. With a meandering path for easy access, it’s a great solution for a small town garden.
2. Leaves big, bold and glossy
You need strong leaf shapes, with contrasting shapes next to each other. These old favourites do the job well: Mahonia, Fatsia, Cordyline, Rhododendron, Leycesteria, ferns and hostas. But there are many others that have the right look and are hardy in our climate, e.g. bamboos, Rodgersia, arum lily (Zantedeschia). For many exotic gardeners a banana tree is a must-have, although even the toughest of those, the Japanese Musa basjoo, needs protection from winter frost.
3. Flowers in strong, bright colours
To break up all that green, you need flowers in red, orange, yellow or magenta. Think of plants like canna, dahlia, begonia or ginger lily (Hedychium). These are not reliably hardy, but may survive winter in the ground if protected with a thick layer of mulch in the autumn. Or how about red-flowering runner beans?
4. Tender plants in pots
To give your ‘jungle’ even more variety, give some of your house plants a summer holiday in the garden. Or grow your cannas etc. in pots and move them to a greenhouse for the winter.
5. Locally in Kent
The Salutation Gardens in Sandwich near Canterbury (Kent) are well worth a visit.
The Salutation Gardens in Sandwich, Kent