Plants for a touch of tropical foliage

James Lawrence, RHS Principal Horticultural Advisor, has designed this simple, attractive, and most importantly, sustainable border design for you to try at home with plants that are easy to grow, widely available and look good together.

This planting plan of evergreens provides a range of flowering and foliage plants that once established, will thrive and bring an exotic feel to your garden.

James Lawrence

The main function here is to provide an exotic look to the scheme. The Azara and Albizia prefer warmer sheltered areas and may not perform well in locations that suffer from prolonged hard frosts or wind.

The Heuchera and Podophyllum provide useful ground cover and will help prevent erosion of bare soil, as well as reducing moisture evaporation from the soil surface and helping to suppress weed growth.

Additional organic mulching, preferably with homemade compost, can further help with soil moisture retention and weed suppression.

Several of these plants will also attract vital pollinators to your garden, helping to improve biodiversity

The variety of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms) in a particular environment. Boosting the biodiversity of your garden has many benefits, including supporting wildlife, improving soil health and reducing the likelihood of pest and disease problems. .

1 -Albizia julibrissin is a deciduous

Deciduous refers to plants (mainly trees and shrubs) that lose their leaves seasonally, usually during autumn. This is a natural process triggered by the season's shorter days and lower temperatures and allows plants to conserve energy during the winter months. tree with a broad, spreading crown of ferny leaves. Fluffy, cherry-pink fragrant flowers open on the top of the leaves in summer, followed by long, narrow, pale brown pods that can hang on into winter.

2 - Blechnum chilense is an evergreen fern with dark green, lance-shaped, fronds. The fertile fronds are more erect, with narrow wavy leaflets.

3 - Azara serrata is an evergreen shrub with glossy, dark green leaves with serrated edges. Dense clusters of fragrant deep yellow flowers appear in summer, occasionally followed by white berries.

4 - Phormium ‘Maori Maiden’ is an evergreen perennial

Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs. with arching, slender sword-shaped leaves. The leaves have closely packed, mid-pink, light pink and bronze stripes.

5 - Podophyllum ‘Kaleidoscope’ is an herbaceous perennial with hexagonal or star-shaped leaves, symmetrically spotted in a mix of dark, mid- and pale, silvery green. Hanging, dark red flowers appear in clusters under the leaves in early summer, followed by yellow fruit.

6 - Crocosmia ‘Hellfire’ is an herbaceous perennial, with mid-green, blade-like leaves and arching flower stems that bear glowing vermillion-red tubular flowers that have a darker red throat, from mid to late summer.

7 - Heuchera ‘Orangeberry’ is a semi-evergreen perennial with burnt-orange ruffled foliage and delicate, creamy-pink flowers appearing on thin stems above the foliage in the summer.

By choosing strong-growing plants, mostly with an AGM (Award of Garden Merit) it is possible, even within a narrow theme, to keep your border looking attractive all year round.

AGM plants tend to be more naturally resistant to pests and disease and, once established, will reduce the need for extra inputs that weaker-growing plants would need, such as excessive water and fertiliser.

A simple planting plan helps create depth, interest and good coverage in a border.

Tropical plants are not generally hardy in most of the United Kingdom, but these plants together give an exotic appearance to the border. Azara and Albizia will require a sheltered position, safe from frost and cold wind, to thrive. By choosing plants that look exotic but are adapted to the UK climate, you can keep your border looking good and growing well.

Using the ethos of ‘right plant, right place’ to create a sustainable planting combination is great for the environment. It helps avoid waste and the use of products and practices needed to try and help ailing plants, such as the application of fertiliser. It also creates robust, long-lived planting that benefits soil health and garden biodiversity

The variety of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms) in a particular environment. Boosting the biodiversity of your garden has many benefits, including supporting wildlife, improving soil health and reducing the likelihood of pest and disease problems. . For more information about sustainable gardening, please see the RHS Sustainability Strategy.