I remember the first time I was told that I “couldn’t do something”. It was a teacher, of all people, on a primary school trip, with regards to me exploring off the path in the countryside. I guess nobody likes being restricted, least of all an adventurous young lad looking to push boundaries. That moment led to an award for “most likely to stray from the path”- maybe this was just literal or perhaps there was more to it…. All my life I have continued to push boundaries and explore where others maybe thought twice.
I have continued this philosophy, of sorts, into gardening. Growing plants in my own garden just a mile or so from the sea in North Devon, where I have been constantly told “you can’t surely grow that here in the UK”. Despite the doubters and the rule book, I grow nearly twenty varieties of Musa Banana plants outdoors all year without any protection at all. These are accompanied by tropical style plants such as Hedychium sp. (Gingers), Colocasia sp., Sphaeropteris sp. (Tree Ferns), Palms, Agave sp. and Cacti among other flora which the books tell us are not hardy or need Winter protection.
While, of course, I am well aware of microclimates and their impact on the success of many exotic plants, the truth is, our climate is shifting. Longer, warmer Summers blurring into warm, humid Autumns, provide ideal soil temperatures for the establishment of roots, rhizomes, corms and bulbs all key to winter survival. Milder Winters have enabled the trials of new garden plants and short, dry Springs allow plants a reprieve from the coldest parts of the year earlier than in the past.
The Jungle Garden is a totally new venture for Marwood Hill Gardens and a growing, exciting new planting concept for progressive gardeners. Those lush, big leaves of plants we saw on our tropical holidays may not be so unrealistic to try at home. The site for our tropical jungle scheme is a south-facing slope with rich, deep soil, overhead canopy from established trees and surrounded by paths to allow visitors several vantage points for viewing the plants. Dappled sunlight is provided through the canopies of Nyssa sinensis and a large Juglans, both with exotic looking foliage. These trees will help maintain a humid microclimate in the border much loved by jungle style plants. The orientation of the valley will also mitigate wind exposure.
Musaceae, Banana, is a family of around 91 plants within three separate groups: Musa, Ensete and Musella. Musa, the larger group, are the plants from which edible bananas come, the most accessible being Musa basjoo, Musa sikkimensis varieties, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The latter has been used to cultivate better performing hybrids such as the beautiful Musa x paradisiaca with vibrant pink petioles and deep ruby offsets. These plants vary in their hardiness and not all are ready, yet, for permanent outdoor British gardens. I am certainly not going to try Musa ‘Siam Ruby’ or Musa ‘Florida’ anytime soon! However, there is a huge range of very realistic options.
Musa basjoo, originating from China and spanning highlands as far as Japan, is perhaps the most accessible Banana plant on these shores available at most garden centres and even supermarkets all over the country. With expected hardiness to be as low as -10 for above ground material and -15 for root hardiness, this variety is possibly the best option for the gardener. Musa sikkimensis ‘Bengal Tiger’, ‘Helen’s Hybrid’, ‘Red Tiger’, ‘Manipur Massive’ and ‘Ever Red’ are some of the better options for ornamental value, relative hardiness and reasonable availability. Sikkimensis originates in northern India, Bhutan and Himalayan regions over 2000m with exposure to cold, snow and intense UV. The ornamental values include an upright leaf form in a ‘V’ shape, making it more tolerant of wind, and red stripes on the new foliage of varying intensities and patterns. Both basjoo and sikkimensis sp. are capable of reaching well over 3 metres in height over several seasons and at least half that height in a single growing season, making an impressive plant regardless of what the winter that follows throws at it. The monstrous Musa sikkimensis ‘Manipur Massive’ develops a ridiculous girth to its stem and all varieties offset well by producing suckers close by the mother plant to form banana groves. Two alternative, rarer options, include Musa yunnenensis, the Alpine Banana, and the extremely cold hardy Musa itinerans ‘forma india’. Ornamentally, both these options are stunning. Yunnenensis has more glaucous coloured, paddle shaped leaves which stand up well to wind and ‘forma india’ has a purple midrib which bleeds into the leaf’s surface. The latter, however, is a poor offset producer and when it does produce, they can be as far as a metre away from the original plant, therefore it needs space in the garden.
The second group within the genus is Ensete, the false banana. Ensete is essentially a giant herb, cultivated and farmed for some 20 million people in East Africa, primarily in Ethiopia. The plants are huge, to 8m, and provide a starchy underground corm which is processed for food for human consumption. Research conducted in association with Kew Gardens has discussed Ensete as a potential food security plant. It is an incredibly resilient plant dealing with drought and disease, is very quick to grow and potentially could substitute for rice in the future as the climate changes. As for growing it in the UK, it remains difficult to plant outdoors through colder months of Winter. My plants are grown in substantial pots, plunged into the garden in April, lifted prior to the first frost and stored in the greenhouse. However, I am more inclined to believe that it is more to do with winter wet than cold as, every year, I hear of the successful outdoor survival of Ensete ventricosum sp. plants, primarily in the south of the UK and of course Scilly and the Channel Islands. This genus is incredibly ornamental, with giant paddle shaped leaves in colours from green to purple to red. The most common option is ‘maurelli’ and the best performers are ‘montebeliardi’, ‘large seed’ and ‘hiniba’. These plants are incredibly drought tolerant due to the ability to store vast amounts of water within the pseudostem, a fascinating organic structure with potential to be used in biomass fuel and even fibre extraction for more practical applications.
The third and final group within the genus is Musella, consisting of a single plant known as Musella lasiocarpa or the Lotus Flower Banana. This plant is a much more compact option for a smaller garden with a maximum height of around 2 metres, offsetting very close to the base of the original plant. As the plant matures a large, yellow, upward facing flower will appear. Musella lasiocarpa is extremely cold hardy, shrugging off minus 10 in well-drained soil.
I could talk for hours about many of the other varieties but those mentioned above were selected for the garden here at Marwood and maybe others will follow in future as I trial varieties ‘mekong giant’, ‘burmese blue’, ‘himalayensis speciosa’, ‘velutina’, ‘thomsoni’, ‘jamesoni’ among others! It was decided to set a good framework to the border with the safer options, so, eight Musa basjoo, alongside a single plant of Musa sikkimensis ‘Bengal Tiger’, Musa yunnenensis, Musa itinerans ‘forma India’ and the flowering Banana Musella lasiocarpa have been planted. With these five initial varieties, we have a great start to our Banana collection and even if we have an extremely cold Winter and lose the top growth, all of these, I am confident, will reshoot from ground level in the Spring.
The stem growth is what every gardener aspires to protect, though, and if we accept that some will be lost to hard frost, many Musa are hardy herbaceous perennials. But, if you are inclined to rush outdoors in the depths of Winter, torrential rains, 80mph winds, flapping about with fleece wraps and straw cages when Carol on the weather tells us it’s going to be -4, you may just save a few inches of the stem growth! I personally have much better things to be getting on with!
I have never protected my Banana plants in my own garden, and yes, in Winter 2022, when temperatures plummeted to -7 and stayed below 0 in the daytime for around a week, I did lose height on nearly all varieties bar ‘forma india’. But I did not lose a single variety as a whole. Musa are completely herbaceous, they are not trees at all, so the stems are susceptible to rot. It is this rot which will kill your Banana plant. If you use fleece wrap you may actually do more damage by trapping moisture within the protection which can rot the plants without you knowing. So it is important to remove any wrapping when temperatures improve. During an average Winter, however, most will retain the previous season’s growth without protection. Those which die back to ground level will shoot in spring with triple the number of plants!
Other jungle style plants began to make their way into the new jungle at Marwood. Several Hedychium sp. ‘Tara’, gardnerianum and ‘Devon Cream’ among other varieties from elsewhere on the site were moved in; an old, struggling Tree Fern, Dicksonia antarctica, was moved and will hopefully now thrive. Many varieties of exotic Canna sp., Salvia sp., Sauromatum sp., Eucomis sp. and Colocasia sp. made up the herbaceous plants. Shrubs and trees such as Mahonia eurybracteata ‘Soft Caress’, Phymosa umbellata, Abutilon sp., Schefflera (Heptapleurum) alpina and fengii, Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Rex’, Fatsia ‘Green Fingers’ and Paulownia elongata and tomentosa. I also decided to link the Jungle Garden with the nearby Australasian Garden using several broader-leaved Pseudopanax varieties, ‘Sabre’ and two forms of lessonii.
Now, the “rule book” tells us to dig up and store exotic plants like Canna sp. and hardy Colocasia sp. such as ‘Pink China’ for Winter but, in my experience, I find them to be very susceptible to rotting once in pots. Left in the ground, these plants have a much more reliable survival rate during the winter months due to a stronger established root system, or rhizome, with well-draining soil keeping conditions just right. A thick mulch after the first frost should be enough to protect the plants. Colocasia sp. have an unmistakeable tropical look with their giant “elephant ear” shaped leaves which are eaten by many Asian communities. The leaves are cooked as well as the roots, which can grow enormous in their native habitats and are a great source of carbohydrate. Vibrant late season colour is added in extravagant fashion by the Canna sp. In the garden we opted for Canna musafolia and Canna ‘Tropicanna’. These plants will bring height, colour and fast growth for their late season show of flowers. In front, Colocasia ‘burgundy stem’ and ‘pink china’ with hardy bulbous plant Sauromatum venuosum and its unmistakeable speckled stems and bizarre, horseshoe leaf form catch the eye as something very different indeed! But they announce their arrival in Spring with a flower that has the odour of rotting meat. Maybe we’ll cut those off! Giant Lobelia ‘tupa’ and ‘bambuseti’ highlight how diverse flora can be.
Since the Jungle Garden has been created, it has caused quite a stir. The plants are so different and ‘out there’ but, in reality, they are not so difficult to grow in your own garden. And that is the point, I guess, to showcase world flora in public access gardens and display creativity and flair but, most of all, instil confidence in gardeners to try new things at home. So I encourage you to get excited about jungle style plants and a new era in planting possibilities!
