The jungle garden look takes the contemporary, lush layers of today’s houseplant-filled interiors out into the garden.
This style of garden is a foliage-based green haven, with layers of plants and different leaf shapes. And you don’t have to live in a tropical country. It can be achieved in cool climates.
Philip’s own garden is in South East England. It’s a jungle garden and he estimates he lifts and stores less than 10% of the plants in winter.
What is a jungle garden?
‘I see a jungle garden as being densely planted. It’s much more about the foliage than the flowers,’ says Philip. ‘Plant lots of plants, so you can’t quite see what’s at the other end.’
That’s why it works to make tiny gardens seem larger, because you can’t quite see the boundaries.
A jungle garden is a really good way for a plant lover to pack lots of interesting plants into a small space. Philip himself discovered the style when he found himself with a small garden of only around 10 square metres and a huge collection of plants.
Philip thinks that this look suits quite a wide range of gardens. He is head gardener at Walmer Castle, where he has just begun planting a jungle garden in the moat. ‘Many people look down on the moat, so it would look good to see big, lush foliage and different patterns of foliage.’
Philip’s garden has featured on The Middlesized Garden before in Why a Small Garden Needs a Big Idea.
Different styles of jungle garden
In The Jungle Garden book, Philip identifies a number of different styles of garden that work for the jungle look. These include the ‘Garden Room’. This is a contemporary open plan room which opens out onto a terrace. The plants inside and out flow into each other so that you can’t see where the house ends and the garden begins.
There is also the Potted Jungle, where most of the plants are in pots. And ‘Jungle Living’ is where the garden seating or table is like a clearing in a jungle, surrounded by plants and shielded from prying eyes.
Jungle gardening has become popular in small, city gardens because the layers of planting make even a small over-looked patio feel private and secluded.
A jungle garden is all about layers of foliage
Philip says that a jungle garden is all about the foliage. His book explains the main different leaf shapes, and he suggests you contrast these with each other. So a ‘palmate’ leaf is like an open hand while a ‘linear’ leaf is very much a straight line. ‘Place a plant with a palmate leaf and a linear leaf next to each other for contrast,’ he suggests.
What’s the difference between a tropical garden and a jungle garden?
A tropical or exotic garden is one which relies on vivid colour as well as foliage shapes and texture. Whereas Philip sees a jungle garden as being dominated by foliage. ‘Plants are plants, of course, which means that most of them do flower,’ he says. ‘So you have flowers in the jungle garden but it’s not the main point.’
But Philip thinks that the jungle look means you can work with hardier plants. Many vividly colourful flowers and plants, such as dahlias and bromeliads are not winter hardy, while a number of recommended plants in Philip’s book are hardy down to quite cold temperatures. He gives the hardiness of each plant in a list at the back.
How do you care for a jungle garden?
When a garden is packed with plants, they need the soil to be in good condition so that they can take up the nutrients. Philip adds a layer of well rotted manure or other soil improver once a year (or sometimes once every two years.)
He says that because the jungle garden look is so densely packed with plants, ‘there’s hardly any light on the soil, so there’s very little weeding.’
And although he waters his garden in a dry spring, before the leaf canopy is fully re-established, there is very little summer watering. ‘Because there are so many leaves, the sun doesn’t get the chance to dry out the soil.’
About 10% of the plants have to be dug up and stored over winter in a frost-free dry place.
So apart from the over-wintering, jungle gardening is reasonably easy-care.
What about the jungle look for a front garden?
A front garden has a different aspect to your back yard. Philip’s front garden is hot and sunny, while his back garden is shady.
So he uses plants that are more sun-loving and drought-tolerant in the front than the back.
A front garden may also be affected by local regulations covering the height of plants. That’s true in Philip’s case, so he doesn’t plant anything that’s higher than about 2 metres/6ft.
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