How To Create A Jungle Style Garden

Take your cue from Great Dixter’s Exotic Garden and embrace lush leaves and flowers in bold, tropical shades. It’s easier than you might think, says Hazel Sillver

- Hazel Sillver

As our climate gets warmer and wetter, it’s not surprising that jungle-style planting continues to grow in popularity. The large, lush leaves, explosions of colour and enclosed feel give a sense of the exotic – whether your garden is pocket-sized or more generous – and with the right plants, you can achieve the look without worrying that the slightest touch of frost will kill them off.

Done well, jungle planting creates a feeling of escapism: dense foliage produces layers of green and forms shady pockets in which exotic flowers bloom in parrot-like colours. And if the planting is tall, there’s an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ sense of being small in a surreal, oversized landscape. That’s certainly the effect at the Exotic Garden at Great Dixter in East Sussex, created by the late Christopher Lloyd and head gardener Fergus Garrett. Hidden beneath a canopy of immense leaves, you find yourself drawn into a paradise of bizarre foliage, flowers and scents.

Visit in September or October, when the garden is at its best, and you will come across weird and wonderful plants you may not have laid eyes upon before: spidery green Cyperus vegetus; palmlike Begonia luxurians; the fabulous Colocasia esculenta ‘Black Magic’, whose immense black leaves are the stuff of dreams. In amongst these aliens are more familiar sights. Offsetting the lush greenery with vivid splashes of bold colour are the likes of Verbena bonariensis, dahlias and cannas.

Replicating the look (albeit on a smaller scale) in your own plot is a lot easier than you might think. Not all tender specimens have diva-like demands, and you can create a jungle border using plants that are hardy in the UK.

Familiar favourites