Transform Your Woodland into a Tropical Paradise, Under-Canopy Planting Tips
Hi everyone and welcome back to the channel. So today we are looking at a woodland style garden which I’ve created at the very bottom of my driveway and this is a triangular bed. It has log edging along the front which goes with that kind of woodland theme. Uh it’s all bked with wood chip which also kind of lends itself to that theme as well. The planting in here is different to the other areas of my garden because I’ve got a large utree which this garden is underneath. And this provides overhead protection in the winter which is great for the Phoenix palm below. So that helps to protect that from the very harshest of frost. A lot of the plants in this area are kind of woodland style plants. They’re low growing. We’ve got things like epimedium. We’ve got KEX grasses. We’ve got various ferns and Pulmaneria. So, a lot of those kind of classic plants in there. This year, I’ve also added a couple of pirus, which is quite a challenge to grow my soil here because I’m on chalk soil. So, what I’ve had to do is to create a massive area, like dig out a massive area and fill it full of ericacious compost in the hope that the plant will survive within its kind of area. And I will feed it with some ericacious feed as well. So, so far so good on those. They are very small at the moment, but they will get bigger uh with time. So, in this particular bed, I’ve got three palm trees. As I mentioned, we’ve got the very large phoenix canaryis in the middle. And I have to bear in mind that over time that will turn into an absolutely huge palm. So that will obviously grow very tall as well as well as spreading out. But the idea is is to keep underneath it, under the canopy of it, to keep it as a woodland style garden and allow the plants to kind of spread around it. So that’s the plan with that one. We’ve got a tracky carpus. I think it’s a marianus one which is a little bit more tender than the other ones other varieties. Um and it’s quite well it’s about under three foot specimen at the moment. Um but that will grow in time. And again it’s got a little bit of protection in this area. And we also have a bog standard tracky carpus fortuni up the top there which will basically give height above the kind of the hedge area and fill in a bit of a gap. Um that one is away from the tree so we don’t have to worry about the hardiness of it because we know that’s going to be really strong performer on that one. So let’s take a closer look at what planting we have in here. So we have a saraka confuser over here which has an amazing scent in the middle of winter. It’s known as Christmas box. So it is a really strong perfume on that one. And it’s an evergreen. So that’s one of the main reasons why it is in this particular area. Contrasting down here we’ve got a group of KX everold. I think they are. Contrast nicely with the saraka on the side there. This is the tracky carpus marianus palm. Quite small at the moment, but growing really well and I’m pretty sure it is that variety. I need to check that. But it’s got silver underneath it. A little bit like the princess palm over the back here. So we have Acer in here which is quite good for a um woodland style garden. We’ve got another runner of the track carpus the tetropanax paparifera rex on there and that is going to basically give height and large leaves up in this area here. Uh it’s a spare plant I had from the runners that the main plant produced. As you can see, we have repeat planted saraka here. We got a canthus mollis, which is these tall flowers. If I zoom in on them. So, we got the tall flowers at the back there. So, that gives height in the space. And they do actually have evergreen leaves. Down here we have epimedium which is a really nice ground cover and it has really nice little uh creamy colored flowers coming up in the spring before the leaves and it turns a lovely kind of burgundy color um with extremes of temperature. So, normally in the autumn, uh, we have a very colorful formium here, and a Dixonia Antarctica, which was the first one I ever bought, and it’s quite a small one, so it wasn’t particularly expensive. Um, but it’s looking pretty healthy. It’s nice to see the little leaves coming out. Um, obviously in time it will form a trunk, but it will take a long, long time to do that. Uh, and in this area, it doesn’t really matter that it doesn’t have a trunk because it’s not going to be the star of this border. So, in the middle here, we have the Phoenix Canaryensis. I was really worried about this because the center of it got really frosted and we got some weird shaped leaves coming out. But we do have some brand new leaves growing. And to be honest, they’ve even grown since this morning. They’re starting to open out a little bit on there. So, that will be the main star of this bed. Um, this bed is all about that palm really now. So, cuz there’s nowhere else in the garden that I’ve got Phoenix palm in the ground basically. So, here we have a lovely smoke tree with its awesome purple foliage. And it’s a bit of a weird shape at the moment, but I’ll just trim that up. And obviously eventually when that Phoenix palm gets big, I’ll probably have to move it away at some point. Obviously, repeat planted epimedium. We got a little bit of geranium down there as well. One thing I should say about this bed is actually in the spring we have a lot of spring bulbs in here. So we have snow drops and we have blue bells in here. So there’s whole carpets of it. So, if you’re wondering why there is bare patches with the wood chip, that’s basically where all the bulbs come through and just gives a different interest really. To be honest, this bed’s probably not looking its best at this time of year. But if you look at the front garden as a whole, the rest of the garden actually has a lot of summer interest. So it doesn’t really matter that this one is aimed more at springtime. So along this kind of slate chip border that we got along the front of the drive here. The reason why we got it is it’s on both sides and it kind of matches up on there. So we have ciserentium which is this plant here. Looks like a grass but isn’t. And it does have these little yellow flowers. And we have little red robins which will fill out in time. And of course their new foliage is bright red on there. So it just adds a bit of tropical look to the border. Here we have our bug hotel which was called Crawley Towers I think. And the cats come in yet again to see what I’m doing and eat the plant. So yeah, that’s the bug hotel which was basically I made that. And then there, that’s that tracky carpus fortuni. It’s a little bit stretched one, but does look a bit different to the rest of them, which is pretty cool. But it’s now starting to root really well in the soil. And as I say, it will grow up into this space above here and just make it a little bit more leafy high up. So I guess when it gets growing, we’ll be kind of driving under it as we drive up the drive. So yeah, the woodland garden obviously quite different, quite shady compared to the rest of the garden. And the main culprit is this U tree above. But obviously using that as an advantage with that Phoenix palm underneath. And yeah, it’s just nice to have something a little bit different to the rest of the garden. I have my log piles at the back there as well in the middle there. So, it’s more aimed at kind of like being environmentally friendly for wildlife on there as well. Um, so ultimately, if you’ve got an area of your garden where you have overhead trees, whether you got oak trees or whatever above, uh, utilize that and maybe go with a woodland style theme on there. And ferns obviously go really well in this environment. And although I’ve got the one and a tree fern in there and no other ferns. That’s mainly because I’ve got already got an area up in the back garden that is themed like that. Hope you’ve enjoyed watching the video and picked up a few tips along the way. And if you haven’t already, check out my other videos because I have done a whole series of videos on the different zones in my garden. So, I’ve got a Mediterranean walkway, a kind of fire pit area, a um courtyard garden, and obviously this woodland garden. So, there’s lots of different videos giving different tips depending on what you’re trying to achieve in your garden at home. Whether you want to just have one of these areas or you want to combine a few, that’s totally fine. um just try and pick up the tips of kind of you know the types of plants that are sort of appropriate for those sort of areas. And I hope that’s found you found that useful. Please don’t forget to subscribe to the channel, click the like button as always uh which helps me get this content out to more people such as yourselves and I will see you guys on the next video. Thanks for watching.
🌴 Welcome to Southview House Exotic! 🌴 In this video, I’ll show you how to transform a shaded woodland space into a lush, tropical-style garden—right here in the UK. Whether you’re working under mature tree canopies or starting from scratch, I’ll share design tips, plant recommendations, and creative ideas to help you build your own jungle-inspired retreat.
🌿 What You’ll Learn:
How to design a tropical garden in shaded woodland areas
The best exotic-looking plants for under-canopy planting
Tips for creating drama, texture, and year-round interest
How to work with UK microclimates and frost protection
🪴 Featured Plants Include:
Phoenix Palm
Acanthus mollis
Acer
Tetrapanax papyrifer
Tree ferns
Phormiums, epimedium, snow drops/ blue bells, and more!
📍 About the Channel: Southview House Exotic is a channel dedicated to charting the progress of my tropical-style garden in the UK. Follow along for garden transformations, plant advice, and design inspiration—especially for gardeners who want bold, beautiful spaces.
👉 Subscribe for weekly updates, garden tours, and practical tips: 👍 Like, comment, and share if you’re dreaming of your own tropical woodland escape!
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