Anyone else planting a jungle/tropical garden?

[Koulibiak]

I would love to hear ideas for what plants have worked for you, especially big leaves and ground covers.

As for me: I started with my jungle planting last year. I already had a good sized phoenix palm and a huge, if slightly ugly, cordyline with about 6 trunks). I love foliage plants, so decided to carry on with that. I’m in London, sw exposure and mostly sunny (though trying to establish a leafy canopy to add shade).

One year on, there is still so much work to do. On the positive side, some of my bananas and even the Ensete maurelii seem to have survived winter unprotected. I’ve got some Musa basjoo already sending leaves up and at least one has clumped and now has 4-5 shoots (from a plug plant last year). My other palms (3 chusan palms last year and now I’ve added 2 chamaerops humilis in pots) are all still so tiny. I have to remind myself my phoenix was tiddly when I brought it home on foot from Morrisons many years ago!

But overall the garden still looks bare so I’ve been planting lots of ferns, Heuchera, polemonium etc. I’ve also got some cannas, crocosmias, pineapple lillies and Kniphofia, and am trying to grow Colocasia (not very successfully so far - got three types and wondering when to give up 😄) and have now planted ginger lillies and eremurus (which are very weird looking when just bare roots, and probably all wrong for my garden, but I’ve taken a punt as they are so spectacular).

I’ve got a Tetrapanax that barely got through winter, my dog ate most of my Sambucus nigra and aucuba, and I just planted a Schefflera to add to the canopy but it’s about 20cm tall right now so I’m not holding my breath. My Kniphofia are a snail nursery!

Ive found it challenging buying plants in nurseries as they are mostly geared towards cottage style gardens, with a very small selection of jungle/foliage plants. Buying online is a gamble - I’ve had some good experiences and sadly many negative ones with diseased plants.

It would be lovely to hear from other jungle gardeners with plants that have worked for them, and positive experiences with online sellers. Thank you 🙏

TLDR; please give me your tips!

@Koulibiak All I can think of is Mahonia Sweet Winter. There is a winter flowering clematis but I think Armandii flowers early spring. My mahonia sw and armandii were new this year so haven't flowered yet. Winter jasmine is nice but not really tropical looking. Indoors, there are always amaryllis/hippeastrum, though mine always re-flower in spring/summer after the first winter flowering.
If you do find anything, please let me know, I would love something to brighten up the garden in winter or plant in winter pots other than the usual cyclamen etc.

Brugmansia-wise - Excitingly, my pink suaveolens has just started flowering yesterday and it is actually pink!
The yellow labelled T&M brug is in bud, no indication of colour yet. One of my white T&M ones is on its second flowering and has 17 buds, the other 2 white mislabelled ones are about to re-flower. My other suaveolens brugs (yellow, white and another pink) haven't flowered yet.

I've had a dahlia meant to be pink/apricot flower burnt orange/brick red and a ginger meant to be orange flower cream. At least they didn't flower white!

That's very brave, begonia luxurians cuttings, let us know how you get on.

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@PsychedlicSally thank you! MN keeps crashing so I will be brief as I’ve lost two drafts already 😂. Thank you for correcting my clematis mistake before I buy one. I will let you know if any winter flowers come to mind. I’ve had bad experiences with mahonia, so I’m reluctant to try again.

Your pink brug is giving me hope for mine yet to flower ☺️ I will keep you posted! Three of my brugs are now around the six ft mark, I think pruning the lower branches and leaves has really helped them grow taller. Though it’s a bit of a head scratcher on how to overwinter them. I keep trying for more cuttings, hopefully some will take or the garden will be very white next year.

My begonia luxurians is growing so well, I really hope I manage a few cuttings. I will be trialling different soils, methods etc over the next few weeks.

I was very disciplined at Wisley, only bought a canna Cleopatra, a daphne and 5 sempervivums. I spotted a lot of plants in their nursery that I’d like for next year, including some gorgeous farfugium and papyrus, but I have enough overwintering to deal with, without having to add to my list.

I had a very good skip diving day, managed to get a chimney pot and a huge 55cm tub from neighbours. I need to think about how to use them. This will keep me busy over winter for a few happy hours ☺️

I’m new to jungly plants and have only some cannas, a musa bajoo and an ensete ventricosum, all in pots. What do you do with them over winter? Last year I cut the leaves off the ensete and wrapped it in fleece and put it in a sheltered corner, it survived but hasn't come back as well this year as I’d hoped.

@BestIsWest I leave my cannas and Musa basjoo in the ground with very little or no protection. They have been coming back reliably.

My ensete on the other hand… it survived a first winter, grew like crazy the next summer, but then died in the second winter despite being protected with straw and fleece. I thought that a big thick pseudostem would give it a fair chance of survival, but alas not. I think you’d have to bring it indoors to a frost free place to give it the best chance. There are a lot of YouTube instruction videos.

I planted a new Ensete this year and it’s been growing very well, so I have the same dilemma. I’m inclined to leave it in the ground, maybe with a cloche on top, and hope for the best. I don’t really have the space to overwinter lots of big plants and trees, so it’s survival of the fittest.

Maybe I’ll try the fleece but not cut the leaves off this winter.

@Koulibiak My brugs are only about 2.5 to 3 feet tall, I haven't done the pruning thing this year because I wanted lots of flowers. I will definitely prune some of the extra white ones next year.
Your begonia luxurians is magnificent, mine is a mere tiddler in comparison. I love your tiles also!
I don't think I would have been that restrained at Wisley. I do understand what you mean though, I have stopped myself buying things which will take effort to overwinter so late in the season. If its the cyperus percamenthus papyrus you were tempted by, I got one from a B&M garden centre for £6.50 not that long ago. Might be worth having a look if you have one with a GC nearby. Well done with the skip finds.

@BestIsWest
Sounds like you've made a good start with cannas, basjoo and ensete, all lovely plants.

It depends whereabouts you are really. I am in the north and have been overwintering my potted cannas and bananas in an unheated conservatory the last 4 winters.

I am going to try overwintering a few outdoors this year and will heavily mulch the cannas and wrap the basjoos. It is my understanding that ensetes should be overwintered frost free indoors so I will still bring those in. Our lowest temperature was minus 6 last winter.

Ensetes can even be dry stored in a cupboard or loft if need be, Yorkshire Kris has a really good video on youtube on overwintering methods for ensetes, The stems are very watery so I can imagine that they would freeze really easily.

@Koulibiak @PsychedlicSallythank you. I’m in S.W.Wales, coastal so very wet but we can get a bit of frost. I don’t have a conservatory or a greenhouse but We do have a loft conversion which is light and airy so do you think it would be ok up there? Could I keep the leaves on?
I shall look out for Yorkshire Kris.

@BestIsWest sorry I can’t help, I’ve never brought an Ensete indoors over winter. I think the usual approach is to down all the leaves and dry store the root ball, but maybe it also responds well to the houseplant treatment - I don’t know.

With the nights getting cooler, I’ve started moving some houseplants indoors. The monstera clearly loved its garden holiday, it’s about twice as big as it was in May, with lots of new leaves and good fenestration. The dracena has grown very well too. I just hope they’re not harbouring too many pest fugitives.

Today I finished potting up all my succulents. I got a bunch from a neighbour who was moving oversees, they were all planted straight into pot covers (no drainage) so I’ve been nursing them back to health. I’ve put them by the garden doors so I get a pop of colour in winter, and it will be easy enough to bring in the less hardy ones when we get frosty nights. I’ve also been planting little sempervivum babies on my green roof, time will tell if they like it or not. At the moment the roof is all sedums, it’s nice but a bit boring.

I also did a bit of commando gardening in my neighbour’s garden (with her permission), she had a sorry looking houseleek so I tidied it up and topped up the compost and gravel. Very satisfying.

Hello fellow junglies, I haven't been around for a while - the garden has been looking after itself and it's beginning to look a bit like a err...jungle!

The musas has been a bit too enthusiastic in the breeding dept and really needs some cutting back. The barrel pond has almost disappeared in a sea of foliage. I loved my gingers - they flowered but omg blink and you'll miss each delicate appearance. The cannas are still flowering; they've been at it for months, as have the salvias and the verbena (which are kept contained for obvious reasons). I'm not big into flowers - just a light sprinkle of colour is enough for me.

My ensete will be allowed to meet it's end - I'm not going to go through any heroics to save it - it's enormous and I've enjoyed it but I might consider something else for next year.

I'm a bit concerned about my schefflera - I planted it thinking it would grow enough to withstand the winter but it's only gained a couple of inches this year - poor show! At a not very stately 17ins - I'm very concerned about its chances.
My new bamboo hasn't done much either - I'm hoping it'll have settled in and start to show some growth next year.

@BestIsWest If the loft conversion is heated it will probably be too dry/warm to just move the entire plant up there unless it is only minimally heated.
If you dry store it that would be fine but for that you need to cut all the leaves off and dry it out and it also needs to be a certain size, that's usually reserved for huge ensetes.
Please watch Yorkshire Kris's video here for all your options, there are loads more videos if you search youtube.
There is also a lovely lady from Neath who posts videos regularly on youtube under the name "gone tropical", there might be some info on her videos which is more local to you.

I have news....my yellow T&M brugmansia has flowered and............................ its has actually flowered yellow!!! So 2 out of 4 in the collection I bought have flowered correctly and the pink and red/orange have flowered white. Only one of my exotic earth ones has flowered so far, a lovely pink, but I fully expect the others to be the correct colours.
Unfortunately we have very strong winds at the moment and a few of the brugs have blown over, I've lost a couple of flowers because of it.

@ungarden Very brave of you to leave your ensete to its fate. Yes, the gingers are lovely but such a shame the flowers don't last longer, so worth it for the gorgeous scent, though. I have one more about to flower then that will be the year's display over.
I would dig up and pot the schefflera, take it in and hope it does better next year. I do think they take a while to get away. I left mine in its pot, it has grown a bit but hasn't needed re-potting, the root growth seems to be very slow, still plenty of room in the pot. Mine is an even less stately 15" tall (excluding pot) and in a 2L pot, I wouldn't risk it overwinter if it was in the ground. I plan to overwinter indoors and plant out next year.
My bamboos really geared up this year despite the dry weather, I planted them spring 24, yours might romp away next year. Mine are various fargesia varieties.

@Koulibiak I haven't had my houseplants outdoors this year, mainly because I have a ridiculous amount of pots outside, I am hoping a lot of those can go in the ground next year. I only got two of my new raised beds finished in time to fully plant up, by the time the other two were done, it was a bit too late for anything half-hardy to establish so they will go in next spring. Three of my four new ground level beds are minimally planted with mainly bedding fillers. With hindsight I bit off more than I can chew, it was an ambitious project but the beds I have planted have done well and it will look fab next year.
I am going to start bringing in my most tender plants over the next couple of weeks, the nights have been cooler than usual for the time of year. I have a few tender colocasias I need to dig up, pot and bring in soon too.

@PsychedlicSally you're right I should dig it up and take it in - I had fallen out of love with it a bit but I might give it another chance.
I saw some very mature Brugs at the weekend at East Ruston Old Vicarage - they were woody (wasn't expecting that) and elegant. No idea how he keeps all those delicate plants alive in the winter!

@PsychedlicSally thank you, Neath is only 10 miles away so will check that lady out as well as Yorkshire Kris.

We had our first frost last night. Yet I still have brugmansias , cannas and cobaea in strong bloom. What a year this has been - even annuals like impatiens, fuchsias, pelargoniums and morning glories are still flowering.

Im pretty much ready for winter, things have been cut back and mulched. I have protected a few brugs and colocasias in situ, put the begonia luxurians, potted cannas and brugs, and ensete in the unheated garden room, and brought the alocasia, cyathea, fiddle leaf fig and my cutting of begonia luxurians (early days but it doesn’t look dead yet 🤞🏻) in the kitchen. I’ve also moved the aeoniums indoors, they are growing really well.

Some of the houseplants I used as ground cover and pot fillers (calatheas, tradescantias) are still going strong outdoors, in fact I now have enough tradescantias to supply the whole town.

Lots of things have gone well this year, but if I were to dwell on things that didn’t:
— I killed a second schefflera Taiwan Ian’s and have now vowed not to buy them again
— my palms are still small
— I still haven’t had a single flower from my gingers— the morning glories got out of control, I definitely wouldn’t have so many again

@Koulibiak

You sound very organised, as ever.
Three of my gingers flowered but they are quite big, a few years old. One had flowered the previous year but the other two flowered for the first time. The younger, smaller ones didn't, I think they need a while to get to flowering size. I overwintered them in the conservatory last winter and they stayed green perhaps that might be worth a try if you have room. I only cut the browned stems down.

We haven't had a frost yet but have had a couple of cold nights. We are due frost overnight Weds/Thurs so I need to get my potted evergreen agapanthus and potted gingers in tomorrow (Weds), fortunately its my day off. I am thinking of leaving the potted Cannas to get slightly frosted before chopping down and bringing in, I don't know whether to lift my planted Cannas or mulch them, will decide tomorrow, annoyingly a lot still have buds.

I brought my very tenders in a couple of weeks ago (including Hawaiian series colocasias which don't look happy) but have left everything else as long as possible as it has been so wet here the last couple of weeks. I wanted them to have chance to dry out a bit.

Over the weekend, I got all the ensetes, small potted musa basjoo/sikkimensis, brugs, aeoniums, hibiscus and other odds and ends in.in. I also lifted the remaining colocasias and got those in, I've left Pink China out and will mulch. I wrapped the big musas on Monday but will likely uncover and re-do after this cold snap as I was rushed and didn't do a great job. My brugs still have loads of flowers so have only had a light trim before bringing in. I will trim more once flowering is over.

My conservatory is very full now, I need to make more overwintering space elsewhere. Our garage is a detached victorian coach house (sounds much grander than it is) and things tend to go fusty in there so I daren't use it. I am wondering about potentially sectioning off the end with the window and heating it a little in the hope I can pop some plants in there.

I think I've had a good gardening year overall with some disappointments

• My dahlias have been rubbish this year, small and late to flower, despite an early start due to the warm spring and that gorgeous summer we had. Most of my new ones flowered incorrectly or not at all and were weedy. The older ones were also poor. The only good ones were Moonshine and Verrone's Obsidian which were lovely. I am leaving them all out, will mulch the above mentioned but leave others to their fate.
• Lost 2 euphorbias in the summer, ascot rainbow and miner's merlot, thought they would have loved the sunshine but they shrivelled. have left them in in case they re-sprout but doubt it.
• My palms have also not grown much this year but look happy otherwise.
• We've had a hosepipe ban since early July, which didn't help, it is still in force!

I can't bring anything inside the house for long, but have a greenhouse and bought some insulated pot wraps/bags. Will just have to cross fingers that things survive and make new plans next year if they don't. If we have a long cold snap, I will bring the mountain papaya and Wollemi saplings in, but they should be ok this week. Pretty sure the Spanish moss is a gonner. The sonchus fruticosis in the ground has frost damaged leaves as expected, but hopefully the roots will survive.

This year has been odd. Things that sulked all summer have been going great in October and November as we finally got some rain. A rust colour black eyed Susan has been the stand out prolific flowerer. As usual, I put too much in the space available, so will try, and fail, to avoid that again next year.

It’s been quite stormy here and I had to put horti fleeces and protection bags back in place after the wind blew everything off.

Everything in the garden room seems to be doing fine. The begonia luxurians is such a good boy - I managed to start a second pot through division, and I’ve also got two cuttings that are rooting in water.

I also have five white Brugmansia cuttings romping along - still absolutely no joy with cuttings of the yellow one. I hope it survives winter outdoors in its big pot, but I’m not holding my breath. I’ve also dug up a yellow/red brugmansia and it seems happy enough indoors, lots of new leaves.

Meanwhile the spring bulbs have started shooting leaves… it’s just a short lull before spring is here ☀️🌱

I’ve got to decide what seeds to sow. Any suggestions for tropical looking scented flowers? I loved the smell of nicotianas, but not sure if I should try something different. I was underwhelmed by some of my annuals - the zinnias grew leggy, morning glories smothered everything, Cobaea flowered late, sweetpeas didn’t last, cleomes had poor germination and smell distinctly skunky 😂. Time to do some research.

Well the 2026 jungle gardening season has officially started - I’ve started my colocasia tubers, as I saw that Morrisons was stocking eddoes again. I got ten tubers for about £4. They are tucked away next to the hot water cylinder, ready to be planted in January. Something to look forward to after the Christmas frenzy.

Wishing you a year of big leaves and weird plants, no slugs, minimal aphids, lovely scents, palm trees that reach for the sky, and lots of frogs for the pond gardeners 🌴🌱🐸

@Koulibiak
Do you have any Begonia luxurians tips? Yours looks very impressive on that photo, mine is somewhat less impressive but currently living in my kitchen and looking okay. My brugs have been in the conservatory for about a month now and are still in flower, I plan to cut them back when they finish flowering. I'm a bit worried about my cyathea, its in the conservatory too and doesn't look at all well.

I also need to decide which seeds to sow, I have asked Santa for an electric propagator. I think I will definitely do nicotiana and coleus but would like to try a couple more things. So would also welcome some ideas.

Can't wait for winter to be over and to be back in full gardening mode. I am trying to get some garden jobs done on dry days but I am rarely home during daylight. It just looks so bare out there at the moment.

I hope you all are looking forward to the new gardening year ahead, may it be a very jungly and tropical one!

@PsychedlicSallyhonestly I’m not sure why my begonia has grown so well, it’s my first time growing one and I must have gotten a very healthy specimen from Big Plant nursery. I planted it in a very large container, in semi shade under a pergola, and rigged the soaker hose from my irrigation system to the pot, so it got an hour of drip irrigation every night. I also fed it lots - I tend to alternate between grow more, liquid seaweed, chicken manure pellets and tomato feed. I guess it likes its random diet. I stopped feeding in September and reduced watering, it’s still looking good now in the unheated garden room. The division plantlet is also growing well, nearly 3 feet tall.

I’m envious of your brugs still in flower, I pruned mine back to a main frame last month. Hopefully they will survive and flower earlier next year so I can enjoy them for longer.

The garden is at its worst right now, I’m looking forward to the first spring bulbs flowering in a few weeks.

I’m also going to sow nicotianas and coleus again. I’ve asked for other seeds for Christmas, but I can’t remember which 🤭 so that will be a surprise.

Well I lost half my colocasias to rot 🤨 so I’ve started a second batch. I started sowing seeds - aloe, echavaria, Cyperus, cleomes (even though they smell like skunk) and cobaea- cobaea in particular needs forever to grow, I only had flowers from mid October last year, having sown them in February. I also planted three seeds of Clivia gardenii, it’s meant to be a houseplant but I will move them out in the summer (assuming I manage to grow them).

Some of my plants in the (mostly unheated) garden room have really struggled in the recent cold. My dracena has dropped most of its leaves, and the fiddle leaf fig has lost every single leaf. I’ve moved them back to the kitchen but I fear it might be too late. Oh well, live and learn. My cyathea is also looking awful, I’ve also moved it back to the kitchen, I will be gutted if it dies.

This is the hardest part of the year… roll on sunny spring days

It's been minus temperature here for days. We had a tiny amount of snow last week, but it's not been warm enough to melt it, so is just ice now. The tree fern is fleeced and has a few handfuls of leaves protecting the crown. The mountain papaya has been brought inside, but I then forgot to water it, so who knows if that will survive. Up until Christmas everything was mild, I even had ripening calamondin oranges!