Ten houseplants to take outside this summer

Are you planning your summer holidays? Perhaps your precious houseplants could do with one too? Maybe you have a passion for foliage plants with green as your favourite colour indoors and out, and leaves beat flowers hands down on your coffee table as well as in your borders? The all-round resolution could be a selection of houseplants that would live happily outside in your garden during summer and then come inside to shelter from winter’s cold.

Philip Oostenbrink loves foliage, too. “This doesn’t mean I don’t like flowers, but my aim is to have a mix of leaf shapes, textures and colours, which look interesting even when they’re not in flower and prolong their season of interest.”

His plants spend their summer and autumn luxuriating in his tiny garden at Ash in Kent (which he opens for the National Garden Scheme) and the minute the temperature falls, those that are tender make their way back into his sitting room. He has written a book, The Jungle Garden (Filbert Press, £25), that shows how to take the houseplant look outside, with everything you need to know about choosing, growing and propagating foliage plants.

He believes that even those with the smallest sheltered gardens, balconies, basement areas and courtyards can play host to these exotic plant panoramas. “My book features an A to Z round-up of lush plants that are hardy in the garden, plus 10 stand-out jungle gardens, which demonstrate the art of combining foliage plants effectively to create fantastic backdrops and displays,” says Oostenbrink. With four National Plant Collections under his belt (you may have spotted his imaginative display of aspidistra at Hampton Court), Oostenbrink is now head gardener at Walmer Castle near Deal in Kent, where he is planning to take his foliage gardening ideas to a massive scale: populating the circular moat with exotic jungle plants, using big foliage in striking combinations.

At 16ft deep and offering 645 sq ft of frost-free habitat, some in full sun and the rest in moist shade behind the castle, there’s space for every size, shape and shade of foliage in an endless panoramic array. There will be plenty of inspiration at Walmer Castle this summer if you love that exotic look (jungle-print shirts are optional). Oostenbrink suggests the following houseplants that will look good inside in winter and decorate an outdoor space during the summer.

Top ten houseplants to take outside this summer

1. Begonia ‘Benitochiba’

One of the hardier begonias, with pretty pink young growth turning silver with dark purple veins. ‘Connee Boswell’ has maroon veins, and ‘Joyful Blaze’ is burgundy with black veining, but there are over 1,000 begonias to choose from.

2. Plectranthus ‘Brusendorf’

This plectranthus has felty silver leaves and will grow into a good-sized plant, happy in full sun or dappled shade. I have P. zuluensis with lime leaves and maroon stems and P. ciliatus ‘Easy Gold’ with golden leaves and maroon undersides.

3. Pelargonium ‘White Mesh’

Also often sold as ‘Crocodile’, the white lace leaves develop their pattern in shade, but beware: this pelargonium will turn green in full sun. Bring into a porch or cool greenhouse in winter and take cuttings to be on the safe side.

4. Rhapis excelsa Lady palm

Also known as the bamboo palm, this small evergreen has glossy fan-shaped, 20in-long leaves that will grow in almost full shade and is hardy down to -21C. It also makes an attractive and eye-catching houseplant in a pot.

5. Pseudopanax ferox

This New Zealand native has almost black chainsaw blades as leaves and will grow up to 10ft. The lower leaves are tough to protect them from nibblers but the plant is susceptible to greenfly. A bizarre plant that’s happy in full sun or light shade.

6. Schefflera macrophylla

The umbrella tree, as it is also known, has large glamorous palmate leaves with lance-shaped leaflets. In a sheltered sunny spot it will reach almost 10ft in height and can be hardy outside in warmer areas.

7. Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’

For the many succulent fans out there, this aeonium keeps its black colour if displayed in full sun. I find it needs more water than most succulents during winter – once a month – but it should not left with damp feet or the roots will rot.

8. Begonia luxurians 'Palm leaf begonia'

This upright, frost-tender, evergreen perennial, a Brazilian native, likes a damp shady spot both outside in summer and indoors before it turns frosty. Growing to more than 6ft, this is an ideal palm alternative with long finger-like lobed leaves.

9. Colocasia esculenta ‘Pink China’

This is one of the few colocasias (a group commonly known as elephant’s ear), to be reliably hardy inside and out during the winter. Fantastic large heart-shaped leaves edged with lime on a plant that will grow to more than 2ft in height.

10. Sparrmannia africana 'African hemp'

A member of the mallow family, African hemp will produce huge heart-shaped leaves, making it a useful backdrop for other planting. If too big to carry, it can be cut down to 8in in autumn and new shoots will start to appear inside in spring.

The dos and don’ts of relocating your houseplants

Get ready for the great summer holiday

• Take houseplants outside after mid-May, but keep an eye on the weather forecast and be prepared to bring them in at a moment’s notice. It can be a nail-bitingly worrying time, so keep some protective fleece handy

• Choose a sheltered spot that’s out of the wind and out of direct sun – very few houseplants like either. Some plants may need to be exposed gradually to light

• Arrange plants together densely so each offers shelter to the other. Use your imagination to create a striking display, contrasting different colours, textures and shapes with larger plants at the back, so the smaller ones can shelter under them

• Water with rainwater, but make sure plants don’t sit with their feet in the wet

• Feed with slow release Osmocote in the compost or water every two weeks with seaweed solution or Vitax for leafy veg

• Keep an eye open for slugs and snails with exotic tastes

Buy and see plants

• Urban Garden, Old Costessey, Norfolk (urbanjungle.uk.com)

• Architectural Plants, Pulborough, West Sussex (architecturalplants.com)

• Palm Centre, Richmond (palmcentre.co.uk)

• Trebah Plant Centre, Falmouth, Cornwall (trebahgarden.co.uk)

• Great Dixter, Rye, East Sussex (greatdixter.co.uk)

• Crûg Farm Plants, Gwynedd, Wales (crug-farm.co.uk)

• Walmer Castle, Deal, Kent (english-heritage.org.uk)

Time to go home to the living room

• The minute the temperature falls to around 10C, usually in late September, start thinking about bringing plants inside

• If any have grown too big, they can be brought into a cold greenhouse, porch or light garage or, in warmer areas of the country, covered with fleece or hessian stuffed with straw

• Blue LED lights from greenhouse and garden suppliers Two Wests & Elliot (twowests.co.uk) would be useful in a frost-free dark garage with a greenhouse heater (thegreenhousepeople.co.uk), set to come on as the temperature drops below zero

• In the house, set the plants on saucers of pebbles and mist regularly to counteract the effects of central heating – which should come on gradually so as to not shock your plants

• Check there are no hitch-hikers like slugs, snails, or worse: vine weevil

• Stop feeding and allow plants to relax naturally and hibernate