2 minute read
TROPICAL PLANTING
EXOTIC GARDEN STYLE TIPS
● Create an evergreen backdrop. ● Use chunky materials like timber, stone and slate for features. ● Plot a winding path through the plants to a seating area. ● Add water – a pool, stream or waterfall. ● Choose some tall, eye-catching architectural plants with contrasting forms and textures. ● Plant an undergrowth with ferns, grasses and tough perennials. ● Dot colours with evergreen perennials and tender plants. ● Use container displays for tender exotics.
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Scent
Jasmine is semi-evergreen and scented too, with white flowers in summer. Akebia, the chocolate vine, looks tropical with its dark brown scented flowers, but tolerates shade.
Foliage
In sun, try the gorgeous purple grapevine with its claret autumn tints. Parthenocissus, (Chinese Virginia creeper) has great autumn colour too. Containers are ideal for tender plants like citrus (eg, lemon) that live outside in summer, and come back indoors for winter. This means you can go for exotic style even if you only have a patio. Make a feature of your container displays in summer, grouping your pots prominently on the patio or deck. Remember to bring them inside before the frosts!
E XOTIC P OTS
Eucomis bicolor (pineapple lily)
A tropical-looking bulb, with striking, tufted foliage and upright flower clusters in late summer. Likes a sunny spot.
Astelia chathamica
Happiest in shade, this silvery, strapleaved shrub is a New Zealand native needing protection in the winter.
Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’
This alien-looking succulent slowly grows into a many-headed ‘tree’. It will love the sunniest place you can find.
tropical style plants
Phormium (New Zealand flax)
Phormiums lend drama to exotic schemes with bold, sword-shaped foliage. A real focal-point plant. H: 1.5m (4.9ft) TIP: You can plant in pots.
Cordyline (Torbay palm)
Cordylines don’t mind partial shade and grow slowly into palm-like trees. H: 7m (23ft) TIP: Choose a purple, green, or a variegated form. Phyllostachys nigra (black bamboo)
Great for screening, this variety forms clumps, so won’t spread. H: 4m (13.1ft) TIP: Cut off lower leaves to show off the dark stems. Fatsia japonica (castor oil plant)
Easy to grow, and happy in shade, fatsia also has striking midwinter flowers. ‘Spider’s Web’ is a variegated form. H: 3m (9.8ft) TIP: Cut off old leaves in spring.
