THE JUNGLE GARDEN by Philip Oostenbrink
Filbert Press, £25 ISBN 978-1999734565
A thorough and considered guide to tropical planting for adventurous gardeners – no matter what the size of their space.
Reviewer Alice Vincent is an author and gardening journalist.
The pandemic achieved something that otherwise seemed unlikely: inspiring a wanderlust for outdoor horticulture among those who previously had eyes only for houseplants. The existing indoor trend for the tropical plantscape proved more popular when people were trapped in their homes, but it also became something to achieve outdoors. It’s fitting, then, that gardener, writer and lifelong foliage fan Philip Oostenbrink began to think about transforming his next garden space into a jungle during lockdown.
The Jungle Garden shows plenty of his thinking and knowledge. It’s a tome worthy of a coffee table, packed with detail and ideas, spanning plant groups for different spaces according to light levels; eight lust-inducing gardens for inspiration; and an in-depth guide to jungle plant care. If you ever wanted to know how to coppice a Catalpa, Oostenbrink has got your back.
Where The Jungle Garden succeeds – arguably like the best garden designs – is in its attention to detail. The cleverly illustrated chapter on leaf shape, for instance, is a great example of bringing potentially dry botanical fact to exciting, practical purpose. Armed with this knowledge, the reader can then better understand the rest of Oostenbrink’s tome, much of which encourages and celebrates the perfect combination of foliage plants to create the much longed-for green escape.
No page is spared luscious photography by Sarah Cuttle, and while the sheer variety of the fronds and Ficus may seem overwhelming, The Jungle Garden is a book that rewards close and repeated reading. Come for the eye-candy, stay for the clever planting tips. If anything is its downfall, it’s knowing how to navigate Oostenbrink’s book: there are brilliant guides to gardens constricted by everything from shade, pots and ugly boundaries here, but trying to find them can be like exploring a jungle.