Typicaly tropical

1:38pm Wednesday 6th August 2008

Some gardeners have a love of the exotic. They enjoy plants that look as though they belong in a steamy jungle, one that could be alive with screeching monkeys and birds of paradise.

The foliage tends to be impressive, the plant sculpture dramatic, and any flowers are always vivid.

I have visited several gardens like this and their owners have all been testosterone-charged males to a one. These are gardeners who push the frontiers.

Their gardens vary greatly in content and style. Will Giles' famous Exotic Garden near Norwich in Norfolk is a one-acre garden on a south-facing slope. Here most of the vibrant plants are bedded out in summer but taken undercover in winter. They include cannas and palms.

Further south near Southwold in Suffolk, Andrew Brogan of Henstead Exotic Garden leaves nearly all his plants out over winter with the help of next door's protective conifer hedge, his maritime position and a thick mulch of pale stone chippings.

The latter throws up the light and heat in summer and aids drainage in winter. So Andrew's garden shines in winter as well as summer. He also uses dramatic hardy plants like Gunnera manicata, Euphorbia mellifera and prickly Asian mahonias Winter Sun' with bamboos and tree ferns. These can be viewed from above, from a Thai pavilion, and from sunken pathways accentuating the jungle-like effect. Both gardens are listed in the NGS Yellow Book.

Another garden I visited many years ago relied on low brick walls which zigzagged through the terraced south-facing garden creating warm niches for exotic plants. Here, agaves were left out in the less than tropical suburbs of Halesowen, plus lots of other plants that were not truly hardy.

They were slanted into the soil so that their rosettes were at an angle and this prevented rain from penetrating the rosettes in winter.

However some exotics' are hardier than they look.The Chusan Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei) is hardy to -17C. The fan-shaped, dark-green leaves are held on long stalks that spring from a fibrous-brown trunk. Seeds of this were sent to Kew by Robert Fortune in 1894 and for many years this Chinese plant was only grown in the tropical palm house. But it can survive outdoors in Scotland and in parts of Canada - as long as it has shelter from strong winds. If happy the trunk can grow 30 cms or 12 inches every year.

Chamaerops humilis, the European fan palm, though not quite as hardy can still withstand -10C for short periods.It hails from the Mediterranean and is the most northerly palm of all. Heavily divided, fan-shaped leaves spring from the ground, forming a mound of green foliage with a silver bloom on the new growth. Plant both in early summer and incorporate well-rotted manure or organic matter to boost growth.

Phormiums, those Antipodean plants with sword-shaped leaves, are equally dramatic and they provide a presence throughout the year. Platt's Black' and variegated forms like Sundowner' need an annual spring tidy to keep them pristine and, if they are happy, they will put out a birdlike spike of flower.

Oxfordshire gardeners can visit their own example of tropical splendour inside the walled garden of Cotswold Wildlife Park, near Burford.

The head gardener, Tim Miles, grew up in Falmouth and Fox Rosehill Park is full of exotic plants donated by the Fox dynasty who were responsible for Glendurgan, Trebah and Penjerrick.

Tim has never looked back andone of the specialist plants he grows is a handsome, red-leafed banana calledEnsete ventricosumMontbeliardii'. This is kept in a pot and placed in the ground in May. However green-leaved ensetes are transplanted straight into the border.

The walls shelter borderline hardy plants like the grass-like South African restios. The larger agaves and cacti spend their winter under glass before being wheeled out and plunge planted in the arid beds in early June.

But many gardeners are leaving frost-tender plants outside under a protective mulch of stone chippings. They include the Japanese banana(Musa basjoo) which can survive -6C.

I have also seen tree ferns in sheltered Herefordshire gardens. Dicksonia antarctica, found from Tasmania to Queensland, is hardy to -10C. The vital thing is to shelter it from strong winds and full sun.

My exotic plants tend to be a little less adventurous. I like cannas and these have sunny orange, red and yellow flowers and round leaves in many colours. However they are in short supply after being devastated by a virus.

I am also cultivating red ginger lilies and have planted Hedychium coccineum Tara' (Red ginger lily) - but so far without much success.

Pineapple lilies, or eucomis, are also finding their way into sloping sunny sites in my bleak garden and coming through the winter. Sparkling Burgundy', a red-leaved one, is thriving and I'm hoping for August flowers. I'm planting deep and mulching with grit.

I haven't gone down the bamboo route. But those testosterone-charged men love them - the more rampant the better!

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