JUNGLE magic

Get up close and personal to some of the wildest plants around

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Leave behind the mundane and head into the lush tropics. Sink into their warmth and chill out on their charm – all without leaving home. Just pop out to your balcony or courtyard, where the colliding colours and fascinating foliage are your escape plan. And it all just comes in a pot! Cool!

MAKE IT HOT

Rich red, shocking pink and deepest burgundy highlight the variety of foliage shapes. Matching Cordyline ‘Rubra’, bloodleaf (Irisine sp), the big, bold Siam tulip (Curcuma sp) and a red-hearted bromeliad, all in similar green pots, creates cohesion.

CARE

All these plants want indirect light or light shade, a rich, moist soil and lots of heat and humidity. Protect the cordyline leaves from strong winds.

CANNA FROM HEAVEN

Take your pick from the many varieties of canna lily – big, striped or plain, colours from black to lime, topped off with their decadent flowers – then create a cushion of dark-leafed begonias leading to a garden path of calibrachoas.

CARE

Cannas require a moist soil, while begonias and calibrachoas need it to be free draining. So choose a large planter, put in canna, then contain begonias and calibrachoas in separate pots and place these in the planter with the lily.

GET THE TROPICAL LOOK

Many temperate-climate species have the look of tropical plants, so you can live in a cooler climate and still have a tropical theme. Here’s how to get the look!