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Exotic holiday at Rosemoor

By Sheila Dearing, Garden Technical Services Officer, RHS Rosemoor

RHS/Tim Sandall

With advice against travel to far and distant lands likely to remain in force for some time, you can get your fix of warmer climes with a visit to Rosemoor. We cannot guarantee the weather, but we hope that you will be delighted with the garden areas that have an exotic or foreign flavour.

Here in the Westcountry, we generally have mild winters and warm, wet summers and even though Lady Anne’s Garden is a notorious frost pocket, we manage to grow a range of tender to half-hardy plants from warmer parts of the world. For example, in the Exotic Garden, which is sheltered from the worse of the weather, we have found that Musa basjoo (banana), Hedychium (ginger lily) and Canna will survive Rosemoor’s winters. However, plants that are on the tender side such as Ensete and Dahlia imperialis need to be lifted and kept just above 0°C during winter. Flowering shrubs such as Hibiscus and Fuchsia are tougher than they look and summer flowering bulbs such as Crinum and Lilium put on most of their growth later in the spring so generally avoid getting nipped by frost.

We also use more robust plants that have exotic characteristics, for example large leaved Hosta, Magnolia and Trachycarpus or intensely coloured flowers including Eucomis, Agapanthus and Nerine. Other useful exotic plants such as Plectranthus and some salvias are definitely not hardy, but are easy enough to propagate by cuttings grown on in the greenhouse and planted out in late spring. Even easier are the annuals such as Cleome and Cosmos, which can be grown from seed each year.

Although you might not realise it, you probably have some plants that come from the Mediterranean climatic zones in your garden, including herbs such as rosemary, sage and lavender. At Rosemoor, our Mediterranean Garden is dedicated to plants that come from these areas, planted among rocks and scree to provide plenty of drainage. Large terracotta pots filled with Mediterranean favourites such as pelargoniums enhance the holiday feel. When the heat of the sun brings out the scents of the leaves and flowers, the garden is filled with the aromas of a Spanish hillside.

It is vital to remember that when you are growing in a container, you are providing a complete environment for a plant, so you need to be mindful of a few factors: Ensure adequate drainage, grow in a suitable medium and keep an eye on the watering. Once established, many Mediterranean plants are drought tolerant, making them ideal container specimens.

The bank along the back of the croquet lawn is planted with those species found in the southern hemisphere that are suited to a sheltered sunny position with free draining soil, but will also cope with our generally cool, wet climate. The resulting mix of species such as Agapanthus, Kniphofia, Dahlia, Lobelia and Gladiolus produce a stimulating summer display to transport you to South Africa, South America or the Antipodes.

The Hot Garden is a wonderful mix of predominantly North American plants including Helenium, Monarda, Coreopsis, Rudbeckia, Achillea and Calamagrostis to give a prairie feel. Other plants including Hemerocallis, Crocosmia, Dahlia, Kniphofia and Miscanthus help to enhance the feeling of being in a sunny foreign meadow.

Many of our garden plants come from parts of the world we love to visit on holiday. Group them together in a sunny sheltered spot, wait for the summer to arrive, pour out your favourite tipple, fill a bowl with ice cream and you can have a foreign holiday in your own back garden without the all stresses of travel.

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