Tropical gardens in Ireland

paddylonglegs

I like the idea of growing some tropical plants in my courtyard garden. I'v done a bit of research into hardy plants which will tolerate Irish climate, but i would really like to see these in the flesh.

I haven't been to the botanical gardens, but heard all of their tropical plants are in their glasshouse? I would like to see how some of them perform outdoors.

Any ideas of gardens around that would have some good examples? I'm in the Kildare area but location isn't too much of an issue

Thanks

HeidiHeidi

paddylonglegs wrote: »

I like the idea of growing some tropical plants in my courtyard garden. I'v done a bit of research into hardy plants which will tolerate Irish climate, but i would really like to see these in the flesh.

I haven't been to the botanical gardens, but heard all of their tropical plants are in their glasshouse? I would like to see how some of them perform outdoors.

Any ideas of gardens around that would have some good examples? I'm in the Kildare area but location isn't too much of an issue

Thanks

Dunno if it counts as tropical, and it's an awfully long way away from Kildare - but Garinish Island in Glengarriff is spectacular and seems to exist in its own little micro-climate. Glenveagh in Donegal also has some very exotic planting.

(Apologies if these suggestions are way off track botanically, I'm not much of a gardener myself!)

paddylonglegs

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Dunno if it counts as tropical, and it's an awfully long way away from Kildare - but Garinish Island in Glengarriff is spectacular and seems to exist in its own little micro-climate. Glenveagh in Donegal also has some very exotic planting.

(Apologies if these suggestions are way off track botanically, I'm not much of a gardener myself!)

Hi yes I just looked at that. It looks interesting and definitely stick it on the list for when I'm in that part of the country

janey j

Have a look at Ricinis Communis (annual) and Garrya Eliptica (perennial), they
are quite jungly looking.

looksee

I think the climate of Garnish Island would be a lot different from Kildare. If you google 'tropical garden in UK' you will find some examples - I recall seeing a section of a gardening programme about someone who had built a tropical garden in London, but I can't see it at the moment.

fox0512

Hi

Tropical is very nice but you will need to over winter plants at a min of 5c...Hardy palms like Trachycarpus fortunei which is ready available is a fine addition to any garden and they can be left outside in winter...one of my favorite cycads is cycas revoluta and is one of the least expensive, easy to look after and add a wonderful tropical look to any garden/court yard...there are many to choose from!!

dealing with tropics for years..if you need any advice just shout

fox0512

Hi

Tropical is very nice but you will need to over winter plants at a min of 5c...Hardy palms like Trachycarpus fortunei which is ready available is a fine addition to any garden and they can be left outside in winter...one of my favorite cycads is cycas revoluta and is one of the least expensive, easy to look after and add a wonderful tropical look to any garden/court yard...there are many to choose from!!

dealing with tropics for years..if you need any advice just shout

fox0512

Trachycarpus fortunei...i stripped its trunk about 2 years ago!

paddylonglegs

fox0512 wrote: »

Hi

Tropical is very nice but you will need to over winter plants at a min of 5c...Hardy palms like which is ready available is a fine addition to any garden and they can be left outside in winter...one of my favorite cycads is cycas revoluta and is one of the least expensive, easy to look after and add a wonderful tropical look to any garden/court yard...there are many to choose from!!

dealing with tropics for years..if you need any advice just shout

Thanks fox, well since you offered your advice, here goes...... no I won't bend your ear too much, Iv just begun in the last few weeks in planning g out a small courtyard section of my garden. A small long section 3mx8m, surrounded with 4 walls. Not the prettiest looking area so I decided I wanted to do some radical, make it interesting to look at and entertain at, and ultimately creating a lovely lush garden bursting with green and hopefully some flowers in the summer.

My thoughts are to still mix in some perennial and bulbs here and there. But the main focus is to have some nice strong tropical specimens such as Trachycarpus fortunes, a banana tree (I'll get back to you about questions on this), and bamboo to act as focal points - the remaining plants to fill it out and bring it together would be a combination of grasses, ferns, hostas, ground cover plants and some succulents ( if possible to plant outside in Ireland?)

Does this sound like I am on the right path for a good tropical/jungle style garden in your experience?

I have done a couple of sketches for potential layouts, I must try and upload when I get a chance.

toddunctious

gunnera, giant rhubarb looks tropical to me and can withstand the Irish climate, however it blocks light from nearby plants

paddylonglegs

toddunctious wrote: »

gunnera, giant rhubarb looks tropical to me and can withstand the Irish climate, however it blocks light from nearby plants

Thanks Todd,

I would like to use alot of planting that withstands irish climate so that I can concentrate on the small amount of tender plants, keeping them safe in winter

fox0512

Sounds like you know what you want already!!....nice tree fern maybe and give it the shaded area.. regarding Trachycarpus fortunei I would recommend to buy as big as possible if wallet allows...more mature ones are more frost hardy...the combination of some perennial and spring bulbs wlil look great in the yard and at the base of ferns, palm etc...a sheltered courtyard as yours is just begging for a Banana (Musa Basjoo) quite the hardy variety that will thrive with added shelter and will also help keep those big leaves in good condition....at first frosts I just cut it back down to 18/24" from ground with a light wrapping of fleece and some bark etc at ground to help roots....there are many hardy ish palms out there but now i just go with what works...ive lost too many plants over the years to jack frost... Trachycarpus work and just dig big hole for them when planting with some compost and ashake of 10 10 20, (10% nitrogen strength )

fox0512

Feast your eyes on these!!! http://www.palmenmann.de/shop/

lottpaul

I wouldn't dream of putting a gunnera into a small space like that. It's a thug and will smother all and sundry. There are smaller, gunnera like plants you might consider instead. Just google ornamental rhubarbs. Same for bamboo - if you go for one make sure its a clump former and not a spreader. Many hardy plants give a tropical appearance - I like fatsia japonica - leaves and odd flowers. I live in one of the mildest parts of the country and have some sheltered spots but I'd struggle with bananas etc. I have a few that I leave outdoors and cover with fleece, straw etc but a really cold winter would kill them off. Same for my canna lilies and so on. Any of the bigger ferns look good too but they are usually slow growing and a big one to buy can be very expensive.
Trachycarpus are great and some phormiums give an exotic look too. Also the garrya elliptica.
Kildare has great garden centres in Johnstown, Celbridge etc and I'm sure they'd have advice to offer.

paddylonglegs

fox0512 wrote: »

Sounds like you know what you want already!!....nice tree fern maybe and give it the shaded area.. regarding Trachycarpus fortunei I would recommend to buy as big as possible if wallet allows...more mature ones are more frost hardy...the combination of some perennial and spring bulbs wlil look great in the yard and at the base of ferns, palm etc...a sheltered courtyard as yours is just begging for a Banana (Musa Basjoo) quite the hardy variety that will thrive with added shelter and will also help keep those big leaves in good condition....at first frosts I just cut it back down to 18/24" from ground with a light wrapping of fleece and some bark etc at ground to help roots....there are many hardy ish palms out there but now i just go with what works...ive lost too many plants over the years to jack frost... Trachycarpus work and just dig big hole for them when planting with some compost and ashake of 10 10 20, (10% nitrogen strength )

Yes fox, I guess over the last week Iv gained lots of ideas and have thoughts in my mind on what I hope to achieve. But putting "tropical" and "Ireland" in the same sentence can churn up a lot of challenges which sounds like you have a wealth of experience with. So while I would have an idea of what I would like, it's best to hear from those with experience on what can work for our climate.

I would really like the banana plant as a statement plant, but had originally wanted it to act as a natural screen between one part of the courtyard and the other. If I had to cut it down before every winter then I would be losing that screening for 6 months of the year (see, I learned something! ) so it might be better to go with the fortunei to act as the screen and have a banana plant potted in another area, allowing me to overwinter it.

Have you had much luck or experience with succulents outdoors? It's something I will research this week anyway. Thanks again for your input

paddylonglegs

lottpaul wrote: »

I wouldn't dream of putting a gunnera into a small space like that. It's a thug and will smother all and sundry. There are smaller, gunnera like plants you might consider instead. Just google ornamental rhubarbs. Same for bamboo - if you go for one make sure its a clump former and not a spreader. Many hardy plants give a tropical appearance - I like fatsia japonica - leaves and odd flowers. I live in one of the mildest parts of the country and have some sheltered spots but I'd struggle with bananas etc. I have a few that I leave outdoors and cover with fleece, straw etc but a really cold winter would kill them off. Same for my canna lilies and so on. Any of the bigger ferns look good too but they are usually slow growing and a big one to buy can be very expensive.
Trachycarpus are great and some phormiums give an exotic look too. Also the garrya elliptica.
Kildare has great garden centres in Johnstown, Celbridge etc and I'm sure they'd have advice to offer.

Thanks lottpaul, I'll research some of those names. Had a look at the gunners and it's a big boy. Maybe a dwarf version might be available

recedite

Fatsia japonica with some bamboo clumps gives a nice effect, but also very hardy, and evergreen.

paddylonglegs

recedite wrote: »

Fatsia japonica with some bamboo clumps gives a nice effect, but also very hardy, and evergreen.

Thanks. I just googled that, it looks great. I notice some photos have varieties with gloss leaves, and some are non-glossy?

recedite

Probably just the light. The leaves are glossy alright, if healthy.

fox0512

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Yes fox, I guess over the last week Iv gained lots of ideas and have thoughts in my mind on what I hope to achieve. But putting "tropical" and "Ireland" in the same sentence can churn up a lot of challenges which sounds like you have a wealth of experience with. So while I would have an idea of what I would like, it's best to hear from those with experience on what can work for our climate.

I would really like the banana plant as a statement plant, but had originally wanted it to act as a natural screen between one part of the courtyard and the other. If I had to cut it down before every winter then I would be losing that screening for 6 months of the year (see, I learned something! ) so it might be better to go with the fortunei to act as the screen and have a banana plant potted in another area, allowing me to overwinter it.

Have you had much luck or experience with succulents outdoors? It's something I will research this week anyway. Thanks again for your input

Not much with succulents ...some are a hardy type of course but my experience with many plants labeled as hardy warrants further investigation... many can survive sub zero conditions buts temps during the day can rise to almost 20c and more during the day depending on country of origin...anything potted is fine of course...I do pot some tender stuff then plant in ground for summer months and remove at winter....i add some pea gravel at base of hole to encourage root growth away from soil to avoid yanking at it like a prize turnip in October!

fox0512

I wouldnt worry so much about having to cut a banana back...growth rate is fast when fed and watered as they like and in no time you have a fine plant...they will also send pups out at base which can be removed and helped in a pot until following summer

REBELSAFC

Have a look at this http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/gardening/bruno-nicolaisgarden-is-a-sub-tropical-haven-353522.html

Probably one of the best "domestic" tropical gardens I have seen

paddylonglegs

Thought I would drag this up again and maybe update you as I'm moving on with this. I don't plan to start work on this until next year but in the meantime I will pick up some specimens here and there and grow them over the next year. Saves a bit on the wallet.

- Just bought a Melianthus major from Newlands garden centre for 10 euro. potted up and seems happy
- Ordered a dicksonia antartica in a 9cm pot from ebay. 18 euro incl shipping (9 euro of that was shipping). Difficult to find it so small and cheap here.

paddylonglegs

Tropical plant combinations:

Hi all, looking to see if anyone has thoughts on plant combinations for tropical gardens. As much as I google garden ideas, I have zero confidence in setting out a plant combination that I feel will work.

I guess it's a matter of taste, but I would like to get some guidance on how I should plan out my small garden. Iv acquired a few specimens now but whilst I want to create a lush feel, I'm not sure whether all these different plants will clash, or whether I should concentrate on a couple of feature plants under planted with a selection of similar plants?

Any guidance/ design methods, or ideas?

Thanks a mil.