Back

Inspirational exotic gardens to visit

Fancy a taste of subtropical garden style without the need for a passport? Then why not pack your bags and head out garden visiting to pick up some hints, tips and inspiration to get growing your own tropical paradise

Many RHS Partner Gardens have exotic-themed areas planted with bold foliage and zingy, hot colours to create a lush, subtropical effect. Make a visit this summer to pick up ideas for your own planting schemes, or simply to enjoy a little taste of planting paradise. 

The RHS Partner Gardens scheme allows RHS members free or reduced price entry at selected times to more than 200 gardens nationwide. It's a great way to discover new gardens and new planting ideas wherever you are!

Walking into prehistory

© Leigh Hunt / RHS
Dicksonia antarctica tree ferns underplanted with shuttlecock ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris) at Abbotsbury
There’s something Jurassically majestic about tree ferns, which pre-date dinosaurs; and here at Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens in Dorset, you can wander through a spectacular valley of them. Alongside Dicksonia antarctica, look out for the more unusual rough tree fern, Cyathea australis, which is too tender to grow outdoors throughout most of the UK but thrives in Abbotsbury’s sheltered coastal microclimate. Living up to its name, the garden is brimming with exotic trees and perennials from the Mediterranean, New Zealand, South Africa, the Himalayas and more. Oh – and look out for the tree frogs.
Top Tip

If space allows, it's worth planting bold plants in multiples of three or five, to really maximise their impact.

Canny planting combinations

The huge leaves of paulownias contrast with spiky palms and cordylines
The Subtropical Walk at Cannington Walled Gardens transports you to more exotic shores. The large leaves of pollarded foxglove trees (Paulownia tomentosa) add bold accents and cactus dahlias, in clashing colours, give colour until the first frosts. Large swathes of ginger lilies (Hedychium) bring architectural, bright green leaves as well as wonderfully fragrant flowers in autumn. More drama comes from palms, yuccas and Crinum cultivars.
Top Tip

Mix up your textures - by combining large-leafed, soft-textured plants with spiky, strappy leaves you bring out the qualities of each.

Sizzling colour

Hot colours lend a tropical touch
Fascicularia bicolor is hardier than it looks
Be inspired by the subtropical plantings at Coleton Fishacre in Devon. The Gazebo Border is packed with spiky yuccas and agaves, towering spikes of echiums and Fascicularia (an incredible, hardy relative of the pineapple!).

The Hot Border sizzles with Canna 'Wyoming', Lobelia cardinalis 'Bee's Flame', Lobelia tupa, Penstemon 'Windsor Red', and the mood continues with gargantuan giant rhubarbs (Gunnera) by the lake and tree ferns in the valley.
Top Tip

Although some of these plants aren't hardy over winter throughout the UK, if you garden in a cold area, you can still get a tropical look by planting them in the garden in May and enjoying them outdoors until October.

A Great British jungle

© John Glover
The subtropical-style Round Dell at Borde Hill Garden in West Sussex is lush with large-leaved plants. Here, hardy bananas (Musa basjoo) luxuriate alongside giant rhubarb Gunnera manicata and dense thickets of bamboo add to the exotic feel.

Top Tip

Give lush leafy plants plenty of water and fertilise them regularly in the growing season to keep them looking their best.

Inside out

Houseplants are released into the great outdoors at Waddesdon
Waddesdon Manor's Tropical Mound comes into its own from August to early November. Semi-permanent plantings of bamboos, phormiums and palms provide a leafy backdrop to seasonal bursts of colour from impatiens, rudbeckia and dahlias. Note the spider plants: "These are not just a houseplant," says former Head Gardener Paul Farnell. "They're great in a subtropical scheme and easy to propagate, too."

Top Tip

Spider plants make great 'bedding plants' as they grow well outdoors in the summer months

Making a splash

Foreign shores? No - this is the Subtropical Garden at East Ruston Old Vicarage, Norfolk.

Distinctive foliage gives an unmistakably exotic feel here: look for the huge paddle-shaped leaves of the hardy banana, Musa basjoo, along with the windmill palm, Trachycarpus fortunei.

The holiday feel continues with evening-scented Brugmansia trumpets, large-flowered dahlias, spidery ginger lilies (Hedychium) and tall-growing annual Amaranthus.

Top Tip

The 'exotic' garden look is a brilliant excuse to ignore the rules and have some fun. Mix up colours, leaf shapes and planting combinations until you find what pleases you!

Make a visit today

Each of these gardens is an RHS Partner Garden, offering free entry to RHS members (main cardholder) at selected times - search Garden Finder for full opening arrangements. Not a member? Why not join us today?

Save to My scrapbook

Read next

Visit Wisley's Exotic Garden

model.mustReadImage.alternativeText

Get the look

Our beautiful garden is bursting with amazing plants and ideas, and well worth a visit

Get the look

See also

Exotic and subtropical gardening

Exotic and subtropical gardening

Browse for exotic plants in the RHS Shop

Browse for exotic plants in the RHS Shop

Get involved

The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.