5 Filler Plant Tips: Easy Ideas to Transform your Garden Design

Today's video is look at new 'filler' plants I'll be adding to my garden along with 5 tips for choosing exciting, easy and low maintenance filler or accessory plants whether you're looking for more evergreen winter interest, spring energy, big summer leaves and flowers or rich autumn colour. I'd highly recommend checking out some of the amazing gardens I've been lucky enough to visit and film (links below) for specific plant ideas but today is more about the methods I use to add reliable, complimentary planting to my garden, how to get a more cohesive and fuller garden easily and really add to the overall effect. Let me know if you've got any cool filler plant ideas and what you're looking to add to your garden this year!
Simon Mabury's Tiny Leeds Jungle Garden packed full of exciting tropical style and foliage plants: • Small Tropical Jungle ...
Dirt Cheap Plants - Janet's beautiful tropical style garden and collection of rare exotic plants: • U.K. Tropical Garden I...
Mark's Crazy Tiki Garden - Tropical and exotic plant update after summer 2023: • Mark's Crazy Tiki Gard...
0:00 - Intro
0:33 Exciting exotic & tropical style garden tour videos for filler plant ideas
2:20 New filler plants for my UK tropical style jungle garden this year
6:55 Base your filler plants around seasonal interest and when you want the impact
10:00 Prioritise easy, hardy & low maintenance filler plants for reliable display
11:32 Right plant, right place - plant for your garden conditions for a sustainable & healthier display
12:53 Choose plants which fit your overall theme / aesthetic / colour scheme
14:55 Use multiples of plants and repetition for a cohesive and beautiful garden
If you've enjoyed my content and would like to say thanks for the price of a coffee then please head over to my Ko-fi, any kind donations would be appreciated and put towards creating more exciting content (or treats for Max & Remi if you wish!): ko-fi.com/georgesjunglegarden​​
Thanks,
George

[@wesleyhackney]

Your tip about repetition of plants may be best advice. I slowly been learning that and finally realized that is so important in tying the garden together. Sometimes less variety but repeating just a few plants much more throughout really works to create the tropical look. Great video today

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Thank you very much and it's definitely something you come to learn isn't it. Even the most eclectic and varied gardens can work so much better visually with some nice repetition of forms and colours, often coming from the most basic and smaller plants.

[@missdimples1982]

I've taken that advice too, I watched which plants did well over winter on my front, and doubled up on them this spring. Hopefully next year it will look more tied in on my front shady garden

[@David_Banner]

Great video. I think filler plants are extremely important and sometimes overlooked in all styles of gardening. They essentially bind everything together. Also your advice about what you see and possibly using evergreens is great. I really don't want to look out of my window in winter and see bare soil or large open patches with nothing growing. I have tried to a use evergreens as a backbone to the garden where possible. I then have the big leaves giants, Musa, Canna, Gunnera, Tetrapanax in the summer/autumn months. Lastly the front of border plants are a mixed of evergreens and deciduous planting.

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Thanks, I appreciate it. There definitely aren't any solid rules are there but they are a fundamental part of changing a garden from a stark collection into a loved garden filled with life and colour. I completely agree with the backbone of evergreens and also prioritising the view you see too. Every garden is different but for me one of the reasons why I grow so many of these plants is so you have something incredible and unusual to look at, not just in summer but also winter too when often many gardens are just sticks and soil like you say.

[@user-nu1hz1mt7s]

hey George thankyou buddy just what i needed for this weekend to fill in the empty spaces in my garden and the sweet winter was a brilliant shout .Again thx George you help me so much and you have a brilliant weekend in the garden

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Thank you, more general tips in this one but I think these gap fillers are a real opportunity for individualism and growing what excites you. I can't say I've had a lot of time out there but it's been a good weekend thanks and I hope you enjoy the rest of yours too.

[@db6625]

One again very informative and interesting video. Some excellent suggestions for adding to the garden. Your editing skills have come along in leaps and bounds since you started…….keep up the good work 👍

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Thanks, I appreciate it! Thanks for your kind words, I try my best but without being a perfectionist etc. The actual editing is still quite basic but I try to mix things up with a lot of the footage I've shot and really show rather than just describe. There's a long way to go but it's all about making little improvements over time and it's great to hear they're noticed and appreciated.

[@garethvanderwesthuyzen6420]

I grow 17 varieties of kniphofia in my garden. Yet as much as I love them, christ the foliage can look untidy this time of year. It's a love/hate relationship.

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Haha yes Gareth, I remembered you're a fan! Yeah, they can definitely stretch the term evergreen but I've been happy with how these two varieties currently look in my garden. As the clumps get bigger though, I understand there may be an element of tidying them up required but I'm sure they'll make up for it in late summer / autumn.

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Are there any other varieties you'd class as a must have out of interest? I grow 'Tawny King' and 'Incandesce' here too.

[@garethvanderwesthuyzen6420]

@@GeorgesJungleGarden to go with your blue/grey theme, I'd recommend Caulescens John May, and for sheer size to compete in a jungle, you've got Uvaria Nobilis and November's Glory

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Very interesting, thank you so much! Caulescens John May could work very well to help link the back end of the garden in with the Med section and you know I'm a sucker for oversized and the largest variants of plants. I appreciate your knowledge and ideas, cheers!

[@PaulConnor100]

Great filler plant ideas George and gets using or imagination to create or little pieces of paradise. 😃

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Thanks Paul, that's what it's all about isn't it - enjoying using your imagination and making YOUR little piece of paradise. I hope you're having a great weekend!

[@PaulConnor100]

@GeorgesJungleGarden Yep just about enjoy a Tree fern care Special 😃👍

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Cheers Paul, happy to help! Trying to make a mixture of informative and then more entertaining / inspirational content involving more garden visits later in the year...

[@TigerMa75]

Kniphofias are my one of my favourite summer plants but I’ve had mixed success due to the winter and slugs…they love them! The toughest ones I’ve had were bulbs from Poundland! Another favourite are geums - the bold bright colours work particularly well with our tropicals.

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Oh dear, sorry to hear they're also a favourite of the slugs! I haven't had many problems here but they are generally at the sunny and sandy / graveled end of my garden so maybe that's a factor. It's often the way isn't it, you spend lots of time or money getting certain plants only for them to struggle whereas other freebies or basic off-the-shelf options do great! Typical. Yes, geums are great for a splash of colour aren't they. I think as long as you've got some big, tropical foliage on the go there's a huge variety of colourful flowers that'll work well with it aren't there.

[@TigerMa75]

@@GeorgesJungleGardenWe have them dotted around in the dry areas of the garden but the slugs love them in the summer when there’s less wet areas around. Happily, frogs have returned to our ponds after disappearing for so many years so hoping they will hang about long enough to keep the slug numbers down.

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Oh dear, I'm pleased to hear your frogs have made a return though and hopefully the slug patrol is in full force this year!

[@DJSupaflyguy]

The Verbascum you bought I’ve got a few planted out and a few in pots and they have set seed but if you time it right when planting more you can get some to flower every year. 🫡

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Nice one and good idea thanks, I'll grow some more from seed and add them to the garden later this year or next spring to keep a bit of continuation going. I'm happy with them self-seeding however they want to!

[@markchitty6505]

Great Vid George, that is what I have been trying to do this last week...come up with filler plant ideas... so far bought different varietys of Hebe and Carex grasses...

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Thanks Mark! Hebes and Carex are nice - Carex especially can take shade, soften edges nicely and come in a variety of greens so work very well with a lot of exotics. Sometimes it's an excuse to look round other garden centres and nurseries to see what grabs you!

[@TheCornishCottageGarden-bs5lf]

Solid tips 😊

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Thanks, happy to help 😊 More specific plant vids coming very soon!

[@Tminus89]

Nice, Verbascum.. I planted 2 Verbascum Thapsus (also known as Cowboy toilet paper for their soft leaves) last year, looks like 1 made it through the winter or maybe it'll restart. That one is biennial, don't know if they all are. Funny, it's also been used as a cure for insanity in the past 😆

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Oooh interesting, it sounds like they'll be handy in a moment of desperation if you lock yourself out in the garden then! Or indeed, go crazy and simply think you've locked yourself out there... I hope they make it through and start growing away soon!

[@Tminus89]

​@@GeorgesJungleGarden😂

[@missdimples1982]

Another excellent video George, always enjoy them

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Thanks, I appreciate it and hope you're having a great weekend!

[@maybelater8730]

Nice video George 👍

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Thank you very much!

[@mrchuffy6535]

Great content and perfect timing as we all look at planting! Do you know anyone selling sweet winter or have you single handedly made them go out of stock everywhere?

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Thank you very much, I try my best! Haha, believe it or not there were actually some £20 plants at Brigg Garden Centre a couple of weeks ago, hopefully they're still there!

[@mrchuffy6535]

@@GeorgesJungleGarden carvery time then! Thanks George

[@mrchuffy6535]

@@GeorgesJungleGarden thanks George got one today nice size for 19.99 and they had three left.

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Haha good man!

[@MarksHouseandGardenUK]

Hi George. The big purple one at 8.02, is that a ricinus? Do you know which one precisely? Thanks in advance. Mark

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Hi Mark, it is indeed, a 'New Zealand Purple' which was always the biggest of the purple / red ones for me and has beautiful, almost pearlescent leaves. You'll love it in your jungle!

[@abdullahhussain9589]

Do you fertilise individual plants separately with their own specific fertiliser? Or do you fertilise them all with one type? Or do you just water them/let rain do its job?

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Hi, good question and the past couple of years, I've relied on the application of slow release fertilisers like Vitax 6X in spring to really improve the soil as a whole across most of my areas of jungle planting. I've really not used much in the way of specific fertilisers bar the palm feed. So yes, whilst each kind of plant does have an optimal kind and amount of feed, improving your soil with organic matter and giving a boost to the big leaves is a good way of generally looking after most of my garden. I've done a few vids on feeding if you find them helpful.

[@archieparker67]

Where did you get the Muscanthus Luteriowhatsitsname from George?

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Hi, my lutarioriparius was a Pan Global Plants buy originally, but I've seen it on the Big Plant Nursery site too. Myself and Mark might each be selling some plants later in spring too but we'll see.

[@Knobblytyressoggysocks]

I have a small garden, rammed with plants, dont be tempting me 😅

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Hahaha, there's always room for one or two more!

[@christopherjones9826]

Tithonia rotundifolia

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Great idea thanks and I actually bought some a couple of weeks ago to get sown this next week! It's my first time growing them but I'm looking forward to the summer colour!

[@user-jd9uh5ph2b]

Do you reckon your K. northiae is the real thing?

[@GeorgesJungleGarden]

Hi, I hope so, it's just been quite significantly chopped back and tidied up. It looks similar to the ones I've already got in the ground from another supplier so we'll see, but no real reason to doubt it just yet!