Bold & Exotic

Conrad McCormick offers advice for those of you looking to plant something that little bit different within your gardens.

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Exotic gardening isn’t some new flash in the pan trend, we have a long history of growing tropical looking plants stretching back to Victorian times when all manner of new and exciting plants were being brought back from across the globe. If you’re bored of the usual cookie cutter gardens, identical to the neighbour’s with all the same plants, then exotic style gardening may be for you. It’s a case of more is more, the bigger and more outrageous the better!

This style of gardening does not mean you have to rely on tender plants that require overwintering under glass or wrapping when cold weather arrives, it’s possible to achieve a tropical look using large leaved plants that are hardy in our climate. Visual impact is achieved through the use of bold foliage in a variety of shapes, sizes and textures.

Generally leaves tend to be larger nearer the equator, decreasing in size closer to the poles. Visually, lush leafage transports us to warmer climes.

We’re incredibly lucky on this island, despite our grumblings about the weather, we are blessed with the presence of the Gulf Stream carrying an express stream of warm waters across the Atlantic from the Caribbean, raising our winter temperatures by quite a few degrees. Were it not for its warming influence we would suffer much more glacial temperatures, similar to those of Alaska or Newfoundland at comparable latitudes.

RIGHT PLANT, RIGHT PLACE