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
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 are any plant living for at least three years. The term is also commonly used for herbaceous perennials which grow for many years (To compare: annual = one year, biennial = two years).
perennials from the Mediterranean, New Zealand, South Africa, the Himalayas and more. Oh – and look out for the tree frogs.
Canny planting combinations
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.
Sizzling colour
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.
A Great British jungle
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.
Inside out
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."
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.
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?