Tropical Holidays at Home!

Enjoy your next tropical holiday at home in your newly created tropical oasis!

With limited travel opportunities at the moment, we are forced to spend our holidays at home, but that doesn’t mean a lack of tropical bliss, and with summer just around the corner now is the time to create a tropical oasis in your backyard. And it’s easy with this step by step "how-to" guide to creating your very own tropical garden.

We are spoilt for choice in our part of the world with so many suitable plants to choose from all of which will provide a lush and exotic atmosphere, just like you’ve experienced at your favourite tropical holiday destination.

Whether your backyard accommodates a pool or not the result will be the same, your space will be transformed into a wonderland of living things, showcasing bold leaves, colour and texture, so let’s get started!

Step one – Identify the area that will support new plants, asking the question – How much sun does it get?

Step two – Prepare the soil – Does your soil need to be improved? – If yes, using products like mushroom compost, Rocky Point's Active Grow, Garden Mate and 5 in 1 Fertiliser will do the trick.

Step three – Choosing your plants - Tropical gardens are built with lush leafy plants such as Heliconia, Palm Trees, Giant Strelitzias, Large Ginger, Bamboo or Elephant Ears all of which are very dominant plants. These dominant plants should be used as your framework, planting small more sensitive plants in the understory. Remember to space these larger plants out, so that your smaller plants like Crotons, Bromeliads, Gingers, Ixora, Ctenanthe, Calatheas and Gardenia experience a combination of sun and shade.

Dominant Plants - Large Ginger, Fan Palm, Elephant Ears

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Smaller plants - Ixora, Bromeliads, Calatheas

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Step four – Designing the layout - The perfect tropical garden has a large variety of leaf colours, shape and texture. Planting them close together but still layering will ensure each plant will have its own space to shine.

Step five - Time to plant and protect - Once planting is complete, it's time to mulch, we suggest using some sugar cane mulch this will keep moisture in, stop your soil from overheating and suppress weeds.

Now, all you need to do is sit back and enjoy the holidays in your own tropical oasis with a good book and a cold beverage.

For more tips and advice on creating a healthy and lush tropical oasis drop in and see the team at Bamboo Down Under, your local family-owned garden centre!