Get the jungle look! Exotic planting made easy
It’s easier than you think to give your garden an exotic look by blending hot, clashing colours with dramatic foliage
Gardens can start to look ragged by the end of July, as many perennials begin to fade. But exotic tropical plants will still look lush and healthy. Whether you want the full-on exotic look, or you’re planning on adding in just a touch of the tropics to give your garden continued interest into autumn, the key is using dramatic, architectural foliage and showy flowers in bold, hot, clashing colours.
Choose bamboos
Bamboo can be relied on to add texture and colour to an evergreen planting scheme, and wind filtering through the stiff canes makes a gentle rustling sound which, in urban gardens, can help mask noise from the outside world.
Yellow-groove bamboo makes a dazzling splash of gold, even on the dullest days, and is one of the best varieties to use as a wind screen. A single plant will make a dense clump of canes up to 3m tall.
Vivid yellow canes with green stripes, which are distinctly zig-zag between the leaf joints, makes the showy yellow-cane variety ‘Spectabilis’ much sought after, especially for creating a jungle effect.
Space savers
If space is limited, dwarf bamboos, such as the fully hardy, variegated Pleioblastus viridistriatus, can be an excellent choice.
This tough plant reaches a maximum height of just 90cm, and forms a clump 60cm or so in diameter. Old clumps are best hacked back each spring to make way for brilliant new leaves, which are golden-yellow with green stripes.
Combining plants
In a border, aim for a mix of heights with tall, towering plants like bamboo and bananas providing a protective canopy for lower growing species such as ferns and hostas. Dense planting will help create the feeling of a jungle, and colourful shows from flowers such as cannas, dahlias and crocosmia will give your border vibrancy.
Calming palm
The tough Chusan palm Trachycarpus fortunei is the only hardy palm in Britain. It’s slow-growing and will reach a height of 1.8-3m. It prefers a well-drained soil and sun or light shade, but must be sheltered from wind. On old plants, small, yellow flowers appear in May or June in dense panicles up to 60cm long which, weather permitting, are followed by blue-black fruits, which are not usually eaten.
Delicate fern
Tree ferns like semievergreen Dicksonia antarctica never fail to impress. They need rich, moist, but well-drained soil and protection from bright sun and drying winds, although they will withstand sub-zero temperatures in winter.