New Plants in B&M… UK Tropical plants for Beginners #gardening #shopping #plants

Welcome everyone. Today's video, a trip to B&M but with a slight twist. I'm going to take you on a tropical style plant shopping day. Right, so I'll talk you through some of the plants that I think you should buy when you're a beginner when it comes to this sort of style of gardening. But not just that, maybe you don't want to go full on tropical and you may just want to add like a little bit of a tropical twist, maybe in a bed, border or even a pot. Right, so I'm going to take you through a few different plants, give you the care guide as I always do and this is the style of gardening that I absolutely love. So without further ado, let's get into today's video. So we're going to start right here with these olives. Now yes, olives aren't really tropical style as such, they're more of a Mediterranean feel but I kind of like both in my garden and I kind of feel like they go hand in hand. Now these olives are extremely hardy, I think for £12.50 they're a decent price, you'll get a lot for your money. These on the other hand, so this is called the Phoenix Canaryensis for just £10. These are a brilliant size plant for the money but they aren't UK winter hardy here, they will need some form of winter protection. Ideally, they will need bringing in the house to actually give it sufficient winter protection. So we've got some more large olives just there for £100, just last week they had some cloud olives in stock which I actually went ahead and I purchased with some birthday money. But maybe the Phoenix Canaryensis, if you're willing to take a gamble or spend £10 on something that potentially will only last for the summer, then that's for you. These are my absolute favourites, so this is a Red Banana also known as an Enseti Moralei. Now this isn't frost hardy unfortunately but for £6.50, I can't tell you how much joy this plant will give you. It will put such a lot of size on over the summer and this can go in a pot or in the garden and it's my absolute favourite. So moving on, we've got some hardy hibiscus. I did touch on these on a previous visit to B&M. I do feel for £20, they're a really good price. They are absolutely loaded with buds and they've got a couple of three different colours in stock as well. Very healthy, very hardy, a really good investment with some lovely splash of colour. So cord lines, I wouldn't recommend that you went with the actual red ones. This is called a Red Star for £25. There's a variety called Cordline Australis which is the hardiest one here in the UK. You can get your hands on that, absolute game changer. Then we have some Xanthidesia, lovely splash of colour, £6.50. I actually do have a Xanthidesia that comes back or Calla Lily that comes back in my garden every single year but it's the traditional white, not the coloured one. You can overwinter these in the house, bring them back out in the summer and they've still got a decent selection of hostas. This is the biggest one for £18.50 but they've still got a selection for £4.50. These big leaves fit into like a tropical jungle style, very hardy. These are deciduous so they die back every year and then come back again in the spring. We have a Callistoman here then, so this is called the Bottle Brush plant. This is a standard plant for £25. They are hardy. I would recommend they go in a sheltered spot within your garden. Then let's talk palms very quickly. This is my absolute favourite. This is a Trachycarpus Wagneranus, £37.50, fully hardy. It won't give you any trouble, you don't have to wrap them up in winter. They give you some really great structure through those months when other things don't look so good. So we've got some smaller Red Star Cordlines then for £5. Now if you can get your hands on the Verde variety, which is like the Cordline Australis, the green one, that's the one I'd recommend. If you can pick one of them up for £5. All of mine in my garden I purchased for around about £2.50 and they're currently about four feet tall. They put on a really good amount of growth. As you can see the green one's just the size there. Then we've got some larger ones for £10 as well if you want to go a little bit bigger. Now these do look good in pots. I've actually planted one in a hanging basket amongst some summer bedders, but they're a good investment but stick with the green ones. So we have some Festuca Glauca, blue grasses. These look great in the front of the borders. They look really nice compared to if you're going to plant something like your Trachycarpus Wagneranus at the front and then you've got something like your red and set it to the side. I can't tell you how much joy it will give you. And then we've got some bamboo just here. Now these are an unbelievable price for £30 for the size of the plant. It's absolutely huge. Very tough, very hardy. Recommend that one. Stays in a pot though for now as bamboo do tend to spread just a little bit. We have clumping varieties and spreading varieties, but I'd recommend that stays in a pot for now. And then we've got some beautiful bougainvilleas. Now these will need some winter protection. They're not frost hardy. I actually don't know anyone who's managed to get them through the winter in an outside condition. They've always been brought inside, but for £15, worth the gamble. So I have come away with the red and setae. So the setae moralii, which is the red banana. One of my absolute favourite plants. And I say that a lot here on my channel, but for £6.50, what that gives you is basically a bedding plant. We can talk about how to overwinter it as we get on through the season. It's not something that we need to talk about today. I would definitely recommend that you take a gamble on it. It is £6.50. I know online for something, what we call a plug plant, right? And it's only about this sort of size. You're looking at £9.99 plus delivery. So for £6.50, I think it's an absolute bargain. As always, I'd recommend that you get there nice and early on delivery day. So they're a brand new delivery here in the UK. It is Tuesday, the 26th, I want to say, of May. Quite early on to be getting the red and setae, but not too early to plant them out as we're having lovely night time temperatures. And that's what I say when it comes to all sorts of bedding plants or clusters of bedding plants. What I am going to say to you is just buy it. You can go in a pot or it can go in the ground. We can add some lovely stuff in with it just to sort of make it nice and big. And I promise you, it won't disappoint you. You'll really enjoy growing it. And if anything else, it'll probably give you the bug to the tropical style gardening way, right? Like I said, don't worry about winter. It's not frost hardy, but we can get over that and there's a way around it. Or you can just treat it like a bedding plant, right? £6.50. I'm sure we've all spent a little bit more than £6.50 on certain plants and they've not made it. So let's just enjoy it for the summer. It'll add a really different dynamic to your garden. I don't know if you can hear that thunder. It'll add a really different dynamic to your garden, even if you don't have a tropical garden, but maybe you just want a slice of it. And I'd highly recommend that you start it. Now for those of you who are a bit of a seasoned tropical style garden, what was your first plant that actually took you on this journey? For me, it was the green banana. So the Moussa Bajou. It's currently sitting about 12 to 15 feet in my garden now. But what was the first plant that you bought? And we've all got to start somewhere, but I know you guys watch me a lot. I know there's a lot of beginner gardening out there and it is a very easy plant to buy, to look after. So, and for £6.50, and I know I keep saying it, but for the money, it's an absolute bargain. And last year they were a little bit bigger, but they were double the price. I think in certain stores, they can be up to about £40 in certain garden centres and nurseries. So it's worth a gamble. It is a gamble, but life's a gamble, right? If that makes sense. So if you can pick any plant off this whole vlog, I've droned about it for nearly three minutes or so, but the Red Anceta, if you do pick one up, I am going to do a little bit of a care guide on it, where we're going to plant it in the garden and I'll show you what kind of positions it likes and all that sort of good stuff, right? And that will be a separate vlog on a day, not too far away. So, but if you did enjoy it, then please do give it a big thumbs up as it really does help the channel out. Drop a comment down below as it helps share it out to others who love gardening, just like we do. But until tomorrow, I will see you in the garden. Thank you so much for your support and I'll see you tomorrow.