Tropical Foliage Planting Style
Typically organic in shape with no hard edges or sense of formality a foliage garden is a place where texture and shape rule. The emphasis is on contrasting plant varieties and forms with large-leaved architectural plants, massed together to create a jungle-like exuberance. Cutting through the foliage are bursts of exotic colour, seen from the clearings and winding paths which give a sense of seclusion and adventure.
In the North particularly, it is often essential to overwinter many of these exotic plants. This can be as simple as wrapping plants (such as tree ferns) in hessien fleece or in the case of banana, cutting back and digging up entirely, to store the rootstock indoors over the winter period.
Key design elements are bold foliage, height and structure, colourful highlights, pools and reflective surfaces, containers which can be moved indoors in the winter, gravel paths with rustic bamboo and timber structures.
Foliage planting can work really well in an urban setting, where temperatures are slightly warmer and gardens more sheltered. This has lead to an increasing trend in the Urban Jungle Garden in the UK, but it can work equally well in a more formal setting, especially where walls or nearby buildings make for a warmer microclimate.
Plants we might use in an Prairie garden.
Planting Design
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