Club tropicana

If you want to create a tropical mood in late summer and early autumn, then now is the time to get your jungle-style plants in the ground

- Hazel Sillver

THE lush leaves and bold blooms of a jungle border create a tropical mood in late summer and early autumn. If you’re looking for an exciting style of planting or you want to create privacy in an urban plot, a jungle-style border is ideal, and there is still time to plant one.

Jungle gardening centres around foliage plants, which mimic the verdant feel of the tropics and are used to create an interesting tapestry of leaf textures, colours, sizes and shapes. “Mix is the key word here,” says Philip Oostenbrink in his new book The Jungle Garden (£25; Filbert Press). “It is important to avoid placing plants with similar foliage next to each other.”

Transported to another world

This cacophony of foliage delights the eyes and is planted in layers, with the uppermost being a canopy of giant leafy plants. These tower above, blocking out your surroundings, so you feel transported to another world. The sun glows behind the denser leaves, casting pools of emerald onto the ground, and the finer palmate leaves stencil shadows over the paths. Among it all, colourful flowers bloom in the shady depths, conjuring an escapist mood of exotica.

“We wanted a bold, inviting world that reminded us of a Rousseau jungle painting,” recalls Fergus Garrett of the Exotic Garden that he created with Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter in East Sussex. “‘We wanted to be able to walk among it, to feel immersed in it, so we created paths that weave in and out of tightly-packed borders of lush foliage and bright flowers.”

Creating a tropical mood