Tropical theme ideas plz gang

Aup guys i finally received a trachycarpus latisectus sikkim today..i ordered it by accidentthe 1st 1 got lost in the post!and this one poked my eyeball out reaching for my camera..its been a nightmare since i pressed the BUY NOW button
Does any of you have one? if so any tips on care cheers x

 

I'd definitely recommend Paulownia; completely hardy and easy to grow; just let it grow away for 2-3 years before pruning back hard in March and given heavy feeding it will then produce massive leaves and potentially reach 15ft in a single season. Have a look at this site;

http://www.urbanjungle.uk.com/product.asp?productid=565&catcode=36&searchfor=

 

Thanks x Its very pretty bilbo,i seen it on another thread,foxglove tree and was tempted they have some on ebay for £7.50 but i really dont want another tree,my gardens only 50ft width and by the looks of the photos of them i think they would comsume 30ft width eventually x

 

Hi Joolz, I don't think you'd need to worry about it consuming your garden if its pruned back every year for the 'leaf effect' rather than letting it grow away, my mum has one in her front garden, (which is about 20ft x 15ft) that I grew from seed about 10 years ago, I saw it last week and it has a nice thick trunk on it but other than that because of the annual pruning it looks like a large leafy shrub, hers is up to about 8ft currently and probably covering about 5ft in width from an 18" stump in March

 

i will take another look at them again then bilbo they looked huge on google images x

 

Echium pinanana Joolz. Have never grown it myself but it looks amazing and says its half hardy

 

Thats a stunner thanksjust found one on ebay so ive started bidding but its got 6 days left yet

 

Bloody hell Joolz no flies on you is there I bet that will make a really good adition to your tropical boarders.

 

Its the only one i seen for sale,9cm pot so i will have to keep it alive over winter along with the others ...thats if i win it how much are they usually to buy?any idea? ive just got a trex and blackmagic colocasia,i dont know what size they will make by the time autumn kicks in
All ideas for more are appreciated thankyou x

 

Is it worth me buying one now off ebay in a 13cm pot bilbo or should i just buy the seeds? there isnt much of summer left so im not sure id gain any growth now ???

 

I have no idea Joolz im going to use the price you pay as a benchmark for when i get one

 

Ive just bought the echium pininana snowtower(white) £3.95

 

Well ive decided on a spot in the garden for my theme to start off,its behind the gunnera and bamboo(they are to right of pic) at the wildlife pond,seems less windy there and a good sun trap
so ive dug out some more hedge out and made a raised area from scaffolding boards which i was thinking of filling with ferns,hostas etc as it can be shady up to foot depth with the fence being there,doesnt look much but its about 10ft lengh..need to restake electrics and fill up with compost yet
Any more ideas of shade loving plants for this tropical theme that i can get established for next yr are more than welcome

 

Fatsia polycarpa? Interesting heavily dissected/lobed leaves. (If you don't like the price of them! you could try some seeds off eBay perhaps?)

All the Fatsia will grow well in shade, so you could have a combination of Spiders Web and the Variegated one. Or mixed in with the Bog Standard one, but that is quite vigorous and might be bigger than you want - I dare say it can be pruned though.

 

Thanks kristen,googled fatsia polycarpa..£350 on crug farm siteseeds will be a better option at that price
I did see a fatsia japonica yest but the guy couldnt tell me if it was hardy so i left it behindi shall ring him to put it aside for me