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!

@PsychedlicSally my cannas are now hardened off, and I potted the ones that will go on the patio. The other ones are dotted around the borders, it’s too early to plant them but I’m trying to decide where they will go.

I'm starting to harden off the colocasias, begonia luxurians and aeoniums.

I’ve started the brugmansia seeds and also caladiums, no signs of life yet but it’s too early to declare them a failure. Apparently caladiums can take 10 weeks to germinate 😮. In a “belt and braces” approach, I’ve also ordered four brugmansia plug plants. Not sure where I will put them, but I’ll cross that bridge in due course.

Apparently all the good, dry weather means we will have significantly fewer slugs and snails this year. Yay.

So glad I found this thread, I have only just started to enjoy gardening now all the DC”s are grown and settled and I have time and brain space to take on new interests.

I have a small corner I am planting up as a jungle area, it is next to a decking area we are also building so I want to feel “enveloped” in plants.

i bought a tiny tetrapanax papyrifer rex from a little village farm store last week, only later after I planted it did I research and see how big they can grow, hopefully it will be a good few years before I have to worry about that!

I’ve got a passion flower cutting for the fence, a melianthus and several cannas we picked up reduced to a few pounds at the end of October last year that I planted a few days ago after they have spent all winter in the porch, I’m excited to see how they all grow and fill out.

@Koulibiak You are very organised. I've only just started hardening off my cannas, gingers & bananas. Normally they can't stay out until the last week of April at the earliest here, so I still have plenty of time. I'm probably about 200 miles north of you, we have a ground frost forecast tonight and it will be zero overnight at the weekend. Its hard work lugging them all outside and back in again every day.

The cannas have already grown quite a bit, the bananas are starting to do something and I am sure the gingers have grown over winter in my conservatory. I just potted a new ginger rhizome yesterday as well.

I started trying to revive my colocasias and caladiums indoors last week, the pink china seems to be growing. I grew the caladiums from tubers last year and they took forever to germinate, so I never actually put them outside. I'm hoping they are quicker this year, I just left them in their pots over winter and let them dry out once they had died back.

I got a bit impatient waiting for my brugmansia twigs from T&M which are showing as dispatching on the 30th. So I've ordered some from exotic earth as well to get a head start. I bought suaveolens variety as according to the article you posted, it seems the best summer flowering option. The T&M ones may be the same but they are quite vague on variety so may not be. I don't know where I am going to put them all either!

The weather has been lovely but unfortunately its a very busy week at work for me so not as much gardening time as usual.

I only have one aeonium and it doesn't look very well, I'd like more but want to see how I fare with this one first. Begonia luxurians is on my wants list, I'm jealous!

@Rattysparklebum Tetrapanax is on my wants list, I'm jealous of that too!

I am sure the cannas won't disappoint. I absolutely adore cannas, they always capture that exotic feel.

@Rattysparklebum @PsychedlicSally I planted a tiny Tetrapanax two years ago and it’s now about 50cm tall, so they do take their time initially. However the trunk is now solid and it’s already sending out lots of new leaves, so I think/hope this will be the year it comes into its own. As the saying goes, “first year, sleep: second year, creep; third year, leap”.

I got the begonia luxurians from Big Plant nursery in their January sales (it was under £8). It’s growing really well and about 80cm tall with multiple palmate heads and shooting new stems. It was very happy as a houseplant over winter, which is more than I can say about my black Colocasia, which went into dormancy. I’m trying to get it to wake up now.

I got most of my aeoniums for free as cuttings, from a generous MNnetter 🥰, and they are growing really well so far.

I love cannas too! I’ve been so impressed with the rhizomes I bought from Dutch Bulbs, every single one has grown so I now have twenty new cannas to find space for. There are still two varieties I want, stuttgart and cleopatra, but that will need to wait.

I hope my gingers finally flower this year 🤞

Making progress, although still too early for a lot of stuff. Got the probably a musa basjoo in the ground today along with persicaria, fatsia japonica spiders web, variegated heucheras, abutilons, passiflora and a daphne. More bits in the greenhouse for now to go out in a few weeks. Lovely weather for it.

@Koulibiak I bought a canna stuttgart last year, it grew really tall but didn't flower, all the others did. The leaves were lovely though and its a more upright slender form which looks great. It is already over 2ft tall now, so hopeful for flowers this year. I also want a cleopatra and have been wondering about getting a musifolia.

I bought a couple of gingers from Big Plant Nursery last year, I was overjoyed when one arrived in bud and it had a gorgeous flower soon after. It seems to have enjoyed winter in my conservatory and has grown quite a bit, loads of new shoots have appeared over the last couple of weeks. I'm hoping it will flower every year now. The ones I grew from tubers look very weedy in comparison.

@SprigatitoYouAndIKnow Sounds like you've been busy. I've been at work all day and evening today so wasn't able to take advantage of the lovely weather. I've only got a couple of hours to work tomorrow then I'm off for 2 weeks so hoping to get lots done in the garden.

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Landscaper is here laying my patio and some stepping stones through the garden - when he's done I'll resume planting. I have 3 calla lilies, a schefflera taiwaniana and a couple of ilex crenata balls ready for planting. I need to shop for the rest of the garden I'm tempted by a dwarf conifer for the shady side of the garden, more ferns and grasses, ginger lillies and more libertia chilensis
for the sunny side. I also want a loquat and an ensete, which I might put in planters to warm up the patio and hide the kitchen pipes.
Planning to divide the bamboo soon and hopefully get 5 more to create a private area in the garden - I started this last year but didn't want to get in the way of the stepping stones.
Still have a bit of painting to do and then I'm as done as you can be with the back garden. I have a Victorian terrace so I'm making the front garden more formal.

@ungarden That all sounds lovely. Remember the Victorians were great plant collectors, so formal doesn't have to mean you can't have any interesting or exotic plants.
That's the excuse I use anyway, we also have a Victorian house.

I have been full of the joys of spring today.
Lovely weather.
Some of my dahlias have finally sprouted. (started in pots indoors)
My Zantedeschia aethiopica's have also sprouted.
My snakeshead fritillaries which did nothing last year are up and in flower.
Some of my crown imperials have flowered for a second year after years and years of failed attempts to grow them.
My new solar spotlights have arrived and look fab illuminating my large 20+ year old chamaerops humilis.
My new brugmansias are on their way to me.
After a very busy few days, I have now finished work for the next two-and-a-bit weeks and the weather forecast is fab!

@PsychedlicSally I’m envious of your crown imperialis! I read they are hard to grow so haven’t bought any yet… what worked for you?

It’s amazing the difference solar lights make. I draped lights on my pergola last month, it was a bloody hard job on my own, going up and down the step ladder a zillion time, but they look great and I think will be even better when the climbers start mixing with them.

I also got three Moroccan table lanterns from Home Bargains for my table for about £2 each, and they look fab too. I love the way they glow through the cutouts.

Enjoy your break!

My lovely landscaper not only did a great job but he gave me his discount at our local nursery and he's gifting me a tree stump for my stumpery! So I got some patio plants for my new patio which will hopefully not be too demanding.
I got a lemon, yucca rostrata, a dwarf pine, an agave, a couple of gingers (I might plant the gingers in the ground and some more libertia). He had two very young lads working for him and one of them said if they ever buy a house that's the garden they'd want - nicest compliment ever!😊
Tree ferns are going a bit brown - hopefully that's what is supposed to happen before they start to show off their new croziers. The agapanthas, the iris and the grasses are showing signs of springing back to life. No frog spawns this year in my pond - but it's my first year gardening so it's all to play for!

@Koulibiak I tried for years to grow crown imperials in the ground without any success whatsoever. I decided to try pots as a last-ditch attempt, I said if they didn’t work, I was giving up.

Only the Aurora variety was successful. I potted 3 in a large clay pot in a mix of equal parts multipurpose compost, potting grit & John Innes No3 with a bit of sharp sand thrown in for good measure. I laid each bulb on its side on a bed of grit and topped the pot with grit. They spend autumn and winter against a south facing wall and then move to a sunny spot on the patio in spring.

I planted a pot each of rubra and lutea varieties the same way, at the same time - one lutea bulb flowered last year, all the others were just leaves. This year only 1 rubra has grown and 2 lutea and they are stumpy with just leaves. I have one more surviving CI in my raised bed which just gets leaves every year, has never flowered in about 5 years but I live in hope. The others I planted at the same time never did anything.

I got 3 bulbs each of lutea and rubra from the reduced section of the garden centre in February, so potted those in the same way, the rubra are just breaking through the soil, no sign of life from the luteas.

I love solar lights, I'm in the process of getting all mine back out now. I did leave some Asda and Home Bargains ones out all winter and they kept working. I've found the ones from Home Bargains, Asda and Ikea to be the best of the value ones. Ikea is also good for replacement rechargeable batteries. Homebase solar lights were absolutely dreadful.

@ungarden That is an impressive haul of plants and good tradesmen are like gold-dust, you've been really lucky there.

A jungle/ tropical is my dream but with two football mad boys in the house, I have to be realistic. I have some tough plants like fatsia, bamboo and Ferns that can tolerate the abuse but I’ll keep this thread to make notes for the future.
Enjoy your tropical paradises 🌴

@ungarden what a lovely plant haul! Isn’t it the best when someone likes and compliments your garden?

@PsychedlicSally I’m full of awe at your determination to grown crown imperialis! I don’t think I have it in me 😂 so will keep on admiring them in other people’s gardens.

It’s the 6th of April and I’ve got a musa basjoo unfurling its first leaf, isn’t that amazing? The Brugmansia I left outside over winter has regrown from the base and is about 4inch tall already (it’s the yellow one with orange tips from Thompson and Morgan).

I found a canna rhizome while weeding bindweed, it never grew last year so I had assumed it had rotted, but to my surprise it’s firm and sending shoots, so I’ve potted it and put it in the sun to give it a boost.

I feel like the garden is effervescing and on the cusp of bursting into life. I also completely tidied up the potting shed, it’s so nice to have a bit of room and to be able to find things easily.

My first foray into growing things from seed is a mixed bag, some things are growing really well (ipomoea, zinnias, coleus), others not so much (I’m looking at you, cleomes 🤨). But I think I can see signs of life on my caladium seed tray, that would be great as I only planted them 8 days ago. I will post an update if it happens. The seeds were an Amazon bargain, £1 and the packet had at least 40. In case @PsychedlicSally or anyone else is interested https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C89Z2MG5?psc=1&smid=A33CPG934YZ2QV&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp

@Koulibiak I have enough difficulty trying to grow caladiums from tubers, I don't know if I could cope with seeds..... there again £1 is a bargain!

I'm super impressed with your propogating @Koulibiak & @PsychedlicSally. I have a Ginger planet dup by a nursery - I keep watching it hoping fo some life to appear - they told me not to water it until I see green - that feels wrong but what do I know?
I'm wondering what ground cover people have gone for? I have a west-facing garden. So I have a south side and a north side with a stepping stone path in between. I've planted the north-side side with tree-ferns, grasses, stumps creating a woodland feel - so that's easy I think I'll go for moss - the south side will have schefflera taiwaniana, bamboo, trachycarpus wagnerianus, ilex, grasses, lilles - but what to do about ground cover - would creeping thyme work - is it too cottage? - will the thyme and the moss just battle it out in the middle? (my garden isn't very wide about 5m - the path stepping stones are 20*90cm).

@ungarden i have Persicaria and vinca minor as ground covers. Both are lovely, very hardy and work well in sun or shade. Last year I also planted European ginger (asarum eurepaeum) but it was very slow growing and there’s no sign of it so far this year.

My garden is also small, and tbh I’m not sure ground cover is really needed - once the bananas, crocosmia, cannas, salvias etc get going there isn’t that much empty ground. But at this time of year, when not much else is growing, it’s nice to have the colourful persicaria leaves and the periwinkle flowers. Still, I have lots of coleus (Solenostemon) seedlings that I will be able to use to fill in the gaps - if the snails don’t raze them to the ground.

I’m still finding nasturtium seedlings that have self seeded and survived winter. But I find it too invasive and it loses its looks after a while, plus there’s the inevitable black fly infestation come August.

None of my gingers (hedychium) have started growing yet, I hope they’re not dead.

My nice discovery of the day is all the new leaves on the fatsias. I decide to prune them as small trees, so removing the lower leaves to leave the trunks exposed, and they have responded with lots of new growth.

@Koulibiak my garden was designed to have a grass river path with stepping stones moving through it to the shed, so it’s not a big area, but I do need something to cover and fix the soil.

Thinking of the gingers appearing…it’s hard to remember when plants started budding last year, I was convinced I planted my musa in April but looking at photos I think it was closer to July - it would be good to have a journal on garden progress - but the reality it that’s not going to happen!🤣

@ungarden I also need some ground cover. Until now most of my exotic plants have been in pots but I do have bamboo in the ground (clumping fargesia). I'm thinking about trying ophiopogon black mambo grass under them at the front, I know its fine for ground cover elsewhere, not sure under bamboo.

I also have persicaria red dragon and purple fantasy which I am currently growing ready to split and use as ground cover/fillers in my new beds.

I tried 4 hedychium rhizomes from farmer gracy last year, only two grew, but have survived winter with their top growth intact (cold conservatory). I can't remember how long they took to come through. I planted a new rhizome last week which looked super healthy with buds but it hasn't come up yet.

@Koulibiak Thanks for mentioning the nasturtiums. I was thinking of growing some, don't think I'll bother now. I love periwinkles, we have them growing wild on our lane, probably the major variety. I might try some vinca minor too.

@PsychedlicSally I’m also adding some grasses as ground cover at the front of borders - hakonechloa macra. Hope it works out.

Today I planted out my cannas, and tomorrow morning the colocasias are going in. The forecast says rain tomorrow, so I hope they get a good soak.

I spotted the first eucomis raising its head today.

I’m now completely fed up with my spring bulbs, I just want them finished so I can use the pots again 😂

@PsychedlicSally I have black mondon grass, saved from the previous owners garden - I'm in two minds about it, it doesn't grow very quickly - but the little purple flowers are lovely, my friend has a border full of it and I feel that too much - not enough of a contrast. I prefer less dense planting to let each plant have a bit of space, so I'm placing a few dark bricks between plants as small stepping stones to allow me to access the back of the deep border.
I'm going to start small with the moss & creeping thyme - maybe even some camomile, see how they get on in my garden before fully investing - they are so expensive - I need something very low and lovely to grow between my stepping stones.
I have one tonne of top soil and compost and 1/2 tonne of pebbles arriving on this week - so that should keep me busy over the bank holiday.

@ungarden have you considered soleilrolia soleilrolii as a ground cover between stepping stones? I love it but have nowhere to put it due to DDog. I’m even thinking of putting some in a pot. It always makes me think of Japanese gardens. https://images.app.goo.gl/t4WNgL5mMR7FgBup7

We finally had rain last night after about 3 weeks of dry weather, and boy did we need it. The salvia amistad have started, alliums are popping open, persicaria seems to have grown 15cm overnight, pelargoniums have a quantity of new leaves. Unfortunately so have the weeds…

The Californian poppies I scattered in pots outside have germinated in masses, I will have some thinning to do in a few weeks.

I’ve also got lots of compost and grit being delivered next week, so I will be able to plant my big pots - once I decide what I actually want to put in them.

@Koulibiak I like the look of Mind Your Own Business but the invasiveness of it is off-putting.