Growing a Jungle Garden

Many a suburban gardener surrounded on all sides by neighbors with barking dogs, mischievous children, and obnoxious behaviors has fantasized about raising up a jungle barrier along the borders. This book shows how it can be done, even in harsh climates.

The author, Philip Oostenbrink, is the former head gardener at Canterbury Cathedral and the current head gardener at Walmer Castle, where he planted a jungle garden in a moat. He credits his obsession with jungle gardens to a visit to Will Giles’s Exotic Garden in Norwich:

“The garden was unlike anything I had seen before. The scale of it and the way the garden was laid out with jungle plants made me feel as if I had travelled somewhere far from the British Isles rather than being behind an office block in East Anglia.”

Oostenbrink explains how he creates lush landscapes by focusing on the foliage instead of flowers. He shows how foliage offers structure to a garden’s design, as well as colorful focal points in many seasons and climates. A jungle garden can grow in any space, he insists, whether in full sun or dappled shade, or even full shade.

Illustrated with full-color photographs of lush landscapes, the book provides numerous examples of how plants create a sense of space and depth through their textures, shapes, heights, and colors. A chapter on cultivation includes expert maintenance advice and the “A to Z of Jungle Plants” at the end of the book profiles more than 100 cultivars.