Alan on how to protect exotics
Fancy a taste of the tropics? Alan Titchmarsh reveals the plants that create a holiday feel in your own garden – and how to ensure your exotic gems survive the winter
There is nothing more stimulating to a gardener than being allowed to grow a whole new range of plants. Those of us who garden on chalk, pine for rhododendrons and camellias; holidays abroad send us home thinking how lovely it would be to wake up surrounded by bougainvillea and hibiscus, bananas and paw-paws. Yes, I know that we are lucky in our temperate islands to be able to grow as wide a range of plants as we do, but every now and again a change would be as good as a rest. Lush, exotic-looking plants, while not actually raising the temperature, do give us a tropical feel that can lift our spirits. Provided the soil is enriched and beefed up with well-rotted compost or manure (most exotics enjoy a moisture-retentive growing medium) and attention is paid to their requirements for shelter and sun or shade, there is no reason why ‘jungly’ plants should not be happy to grow in our gardens. Many of these plants look their best right now, having had the whole summer to ‘put on weight’ and establish themselves. This summer gave them a cracking boost, when temperatures meant they felt quite at home from the word go. Christopher Lloyd caused quite a stir at Great Dixter all those years ago when he ripped out his roses and replaced them with plants that gave a tropical feel, but folk soon began to visit the garden to admire that very feature. And there are plenty of other gardens you can visit around our isles, from Tresco to Inverewe, that will make you feel you are thousands of miles from home, and that might inspire you to be a little more exotic in your own garden. In truth, the word ‘exotic’ simply means ‘foreign to our shores’, but in gardening the word is applied to plants of luscious and spectacular appearance – everything from hostas and ferns to juicy dahlias, New Guinea impatiens and coleus – that can give any garden a taste of the tropics during the summer months. There are even some that can be left in situ through the winter if a few precautions are taken. The rewards are well worth the hassle: plant your deckchair alongside them in summer, raise a glass and congratulate yourself on an achievement that has saved you hundreds of pounds in air fares, and avoided the trials and tribulations of busy airports.
How to handle
Even if space is limited, a handful of these exotics can be arranged in a large pot or tub. Just make sure they have fresh compost at their roots and a plentiful supply of moisture. Weekly feeding with dilute liquid tomato feed between June and
September wi l l keep them in good condition, coupled with the removal of faded f lowers and leaves. Most exotics enjoy full sun, but avoid exposed spots where wind can shred the leaves of tender plants such as bananas. Some exotics are best treated as annuals and replaced every year – after all, many summer bedding plants, such as impatiens ( busy lizzies), are perennials in their native climes. Others can be potted up at the end of summer and overwintered in a frost-free greenhouse. It is certainly not necessary to provide tropical-level temperatures that send your heating bills and pulse rate soaring, but you will need some form of heat ing in your greenhouse, ideal ly connected to a thermostat so it comes on automatically. The exact temperature you heat it to will depend on the plants you put in there. Smaller specimens can be potted up and overwintered indoors on a bright windowsill, becoming houseplants in winter and garden plants in summer. If your plants are too big to bring indoors, you can take cuttings now (the sooner the better) and overwinter those in a porch, conservatory or cool greenhouse for planting out the following spring. This is a
There are some exotic plants that can be left outdoors all year round, as long as you take a few precautions
good insurance pol icy, in case of unexpectedly harsh winters, and has the added bonus of helping you increase your plant stocks. Then there are some exotic plants that can be left outdoors all the year round, as long as you take a few precautions. Swathing plants in polythene is seldom successful because it allows no air movement and will frequently result in rotting. But protecting the growing points with dry straw or bracken is usually effective at getting them through the winter, and the dry insulation can be held in place with wire netting or, in the case of tree ferns, be mounded up over the growing point to offer protection from severe frost. And while the top-growth of plants like dahlias and ginger lilies will be killed off by frost, if you cut them down and then protect the underground tubers with a 10cm-deep mulch of composted bark, wellrotted manure or garden compost to prevent frost penetrating the ground, in much of the country this will be sufficient for them to bounce back the following year. In colder, wetter areas, you will need to dig up the tubers and store them somewhere frost-free over winter. Any exotic plants left in the ground outside over winter will have the best chance of survival if they are planted near a south- or west-facing wall, which will be warmed up by the daytime sun (even in winter) and act as a storage heater at night, giving off the heat it absorbed and helping to raise temperatures by a few crucial degrees. In colder and more exposed parts of the UK, the growing season for these lush foreign beauties will be shorter than in the warmer south west of England or the milder west coast of Scotland, where the Gulf Stream is a great help in making the plants feel at home. But if you keep in mind the importance of shelter, sunlight and generous soil preparation, plus the provision of fresh, nutritious compost in containers, there is no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy a little pocket of the tropics wherever you live.