Tropical gardens offer homeowners a way to create a little slice of paradise on their property. It can be to elicit memories of a legendary holiday, to channel your inner island spirit or to simply bring a sense of the equator to our often-grey nation. Whatever your approach, picking out plants for a tropical garden needs to be a considered process, with an emphasis on creating the atmosphere you want.
This article puts the spotlight on some of the best options for building your own little piece of tropical beauty, whether you live in London or Scunthorpe. Our list will act as a guide for all sorts of tropical garden ideas, touching on palms, succulents and more.
This is a collaborative post.
Trachycarpus Fortunei
Fancy establishing a sort of “Margaritaville” energy in your back garden? This could be the perfect place to start. Here we have a hardy palm that, despite its tropical credentials, can survive in the coldest UK weather of down to -10°C. It’s got a fairly classic palm tree look, with a rough, furry trunk that gives way to lovely fanning, dark-green, slender leaves. The foliage is especially exciting as it produces gorgeous shadows on the ground when under direct sunlight. It’s slow growing, so start it off in a container.
Dicksonia antarctica aka Tasmanian Tree Fern
If you’re in a transitional phase with your British tropical garden, then this could be the perfect place to start. The Tasmanian Tree Fern has a lush tropical beauty to it, while still feeling timeless and seamless in all manner of different outdoor settings. It produces impressive fronds, from the ground up, before a pseudo trunk crowns in the late spring, showing off a more blatantly tropical side of itself. It’s a slow grower, but so worth it.
Cordyline ‘Emerald Star’
This is another of the best evergreen tropical plants UK gardeners can integrate into their outdoor spaces. It’s an ornamental plant with strikingly long and thick foliage, taking the shape of lances in eponymous emerald green. It makes a great focal point in a tropical display, with its versatile growth habits making it suitable for containers, beds and borders alike. It can tolerate both full sun and partial shade, but it should be protected at temperatures below -5°C (possible in UK winters!)
Yucca rostrata
This is about as on the nose as it gets when sourcing plants for a tropical garden. It’s a tall, thick-trunked palm, with a head of blue spikey foliage that points to the sky with pride. The trunk works its way up, adorned with older foliage that almost resembles a faded grass skirt, before becoming shorter and spikier, looking somewhat like a pineapple or cactus. It’s hardy down to -10°C, making it a safe bet for gardens all over the country.
Yucca ‘Gloriosa’ Variegata
This Yucca variation differs significantly from the rostrata plant, with much fleshier, thicker foliage that takes on a sort of blue-green shade and adorns a yellow border. With less of a trunk, it has more of a shrub-like habit. The leaves are very impressive, but it can also grow clusters of white, bell-shaped flowers, which are attractive to bees and other pollinators. Plant in direct sunlight and used as a structural centrepiece for a tropical display!
Begin creating your tropical paradise now
If you feel like you’ve got the information you need and the tropical bug has bit you (not literally), then all there’s left to do is find the right supplier and start planning for your outdoor space. With a considered approach, even the coldest corners of the UK can feel like a holiday every day!