Native to Japan, Fatsia japonica is a wonderful, hardy, large-leaved shrub - one of the backbones of the tropical garden - and should be planted in vast numbers to create a lush atmosphere throughout your jungle. The exotic garden is unimaginable without Fatsia japonica, filling a large space with its beautiful, glossy, deeply-lobed, palmate leaves. But it is not just its evergreen tropical foliage that makes Fatsia so wonderful; in autumn it bursts into an extraordinary pale blaze of creamy straw-coloured bloom, each tiny flower set on a small stem which radiates out from a central pivot like a pom-pom and which itself is carried aloft on a large and rather fascinating umbel bearing many similar such pale-yellow pom poms. As the days get shorter and colder, bumble bees flock to these flowers for their abundant supply of nectar.

Very hardy, Fatsia japonica survives frost, snow and everything else the Northern climate can throw at it. It is very adaptable and tolerant of neglect and also does well near the coast. Growing in either full sun or partial shade, Fatsia japonica will do best in a bright sheltered position protected from wind and kept well-watered

Fast growing, hardy and very forgiving; tropical-looking foliage and a curious antennae-like inflorescence - Fatsia is it - the perfect no-fuss exotic plant.