In the third of our series, Mary Keen shows how to create the glamour and lushness of an Amazon rainforest
AN exotic planting is hard work because, by definition, it uses plants that are not at home in this country. Most of the plants that provide lush and glamorous effects are not reliably hardy - so if you want banana leaves, for example (fruit are out of the question), you must be prepared to wrap the plants in winter.
A little cheating might be needed. Some plants look more exotic than they are; others, when treated harshly by being pruned to the ground, produce leaves that would do credit to the Amazon rainforest.
Large leaves are the trademark of exotic planting. The largest leaves of any hardy plant are probably those of the giant gunnera, but this is not a plant for a small, dry site, because it is quite invasive and prefers bog.
A real exotic corner demands a greenhouse - and the commitment of the great Christopher Lloyd, combined with the energy and knowledge of his head gardener at Great Dixter, Fergus Garrett. Go and see the show they stage every summer in the old rose garden, and marvel at finding a jungle in East Sussex.
This is "in your face" gardening. If you decide to make it the only sort you practise, you may end up wishing you had created something a bit more restful - especially on hot days. But it is also fun gardening. When I first saw the exuberance of the Dixter patch - which replaced a small enclosed plot of hybrid teas - I laughed out loud.
Sun
Rhubarb is a good large-leaved plant - but rodgersia has the edge on the food plant because its leaves are slightly bronzed and its flowers are pink and plume-like, reminiscent of a huge astilbe. Moist soil is important, so give it plenty of mulch. Water when drought strikes.
More outsize coloured leaves are provided by Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple', which you cut to the ground in spring. The plant responds by throwing up straight stems with foliage much larger than normal. Miscanthus 'Zebrinus' is a zebra-striped grass - yellow and green.
All these foliage plants give colour in the sunset range without any flowers. Crocosmia 'Lucifer', when well grown, has strong, upright green leaves that are a focus even without its late-summer scarlet flowers. The kniphofia has grey blades of leaves and coral-orange pokers. Hot colours are the exotic gardener's best ally.
At the risk of including too many stiffly pointed plants, I have suggested Miss Jekyll's favourite, Yucca gloriosa. Agaves are not hardy, so this is the next best thing. It flowers about as often as we have a general election, and the "will it, won't it?" suspense makes it an extra-special plant.
Dahlias (from Mexico) are virtually hardy in the south of England if you cover them with vermiculite and evergreen branches at the first sign of frost. Or lift them and store the tubers. The two I have chosen are particularly flash. 'Chimborazo' is two-tone orange and yellow; 'Grenadier' has dark leaves and scarlet flowers. From Chile, Lobelia tupa is a beautiful thing, 6ft tall with spikes of hooded coral flowers. Its leaves are unfamiliar and people always ask what it is. The Begonia evansiana is the only hardy form and looks as though it should be in a hothouse.
If you are energetic, you can add some smaller plants, such as Gladiolus byzantinus, in lurid magenta, among the Titans - but make sure they don't get smothered.
Shade
In the large-leaved category, Fatsia japonica is a prize. Its glossy green leaves might have come from a Gauguin canvas. Veratrum nigrum has large, pleated paddles for leaves, and sinister black flower spikes. Slugs love it.
They also love the mahogany, heart-shaped foliage of ligularia. This plant likes a moist place, and it has bright orange daisies (which it may produce slightly less freely in dense shade). For added lushness, the giant tobacco plant, Nicotiana sylvestris, is an annual worth growing. Huge leaves and white candelabra-like flowers on man-high stems give it an exotic air.
The Cimicifuga 'Elstead' is almost too elegant to be included, but I have added it because it will be unfamiliar to most people, and strangeness is an important element in exotic beds. Curiouser and even curiouser is the shuttlecock fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris. The fronds can be 2ft long. Think of it as the poor-man's tree fern and keep it damp and out of drying winds.
A good foliage plant that seems happy in most places is Iris x robusta 'Gerald Darby'. Its leaves are as large as the crocosmia in the sunny bed, and at their base they are stained with plum. The flowers are blue. Pretend they are hummingbirds.
The double hemerocallis 'Kwanso' has bricky orange flowers and fleshy green leaves. If you can be bothered to grow the unhardy Fuchsia 'Thalia', which has purple leaves and orange flowers, the effect will be stunning. If you can't, the more ordinary Fuchsia 'Riccartonii' will survive and can look good in an exotic scheme.
Euphorbia 'Dixter' is the right hectic orange and red, and
the Hakonechloa 'Aureola' is a brassy grass for the front
of the bed. Add some tiger lilies - they prefer it damp but,
like all lilies, they need good drainage. Aruncus sylvestris
is like a small pampas grass. From 4ft of leaf, its creamy
plumes rise almost as high again.
-- Anonymous, June 20, 2001