Fifty Shades of Green - Urban Forest Garden Midsummer Tour

Today's video is a midsummer garden tour of Annmarie and Andrew Swift's beautiful and truly unique 11 x 15m urban creation just north of Walsall, near Birmingham. Faced with challenges including a north-facing aspect, heavy clay soil, a high water table and being overlooked - with clever design, hard work and beautiful planting, managed to succeed and created a beautifully lush and diverse garden offering privacy and beauty through the seasons. A lush and leafy forest garden with areas of exotic and tropical style planting, greets NGS visitors, with multiple water features including two waterfalls, over 70 trees and 200+ shade-loving ferns, this really is a special garden proving just how much you can do with a small garden if you really like green! As we walk around the garden, we talk about small garden design tips, shady foliage plant ideas, building creative garden structures, encouraging wildlife into a small garden to control slugs, top advice for creating pondless waterfalls and what this beautiful space means to them.

0:00 Intro
1:22 Fifty Shades of Green - challenges, opportunities & personality in a north-facing garden
3:36 The evolution of a small urban garden, from Japanese influence to an enclosed forest garden
4:52 Over 70 trees in a small forest garden and garden design tips for privacy and atmosphere
7:05 From one pond to a garden full of water features, waterfalls & wildlife
9:07 Spanish moss, foliage plant ideas and creating a natural looking garden
10:06 Upcycling and building a DIY garden gazebo structure with custom lights & artwork
13:43 Beautiful multiple head tree ferns & Dicksonia antartica care tips including watering & feeding
18:56 Gunnera x cryptica - a tip for controlling the leaves and manicata / tinctoria hybrid identification?
21:14 Making the most of sunny planting areas & creating a garden journey
22:04 Soil improvement & amendments for creating a north facing garden on heavy clay - challenges & tips
25:03 Water features monolith & pondless waterfall - tips, planting, encouraging wildlife & inspiration
28:13 Eucalyptus & Quercus dentata large leaved Oak tree
30:16 Encouraging wildlife into a small garden & natural slug control with frog population
32:09 Levels, diffusers, soakaway crates & top tips for creating a natural pondless waterfall water feature
36:41 Beautiful shade planting, ferns, creativity & upcycling / recycling garden ornaments
43:29 Delayed flowering in shade, trees for year round interest and underplanting
45:30 Koi pond with exotic plants and managing trees in a small garden
51:40 Tropical style planting area, creating privacy & atmosphere in an urban forest garden

Thanks,

George

[DIMMOCKS]

A massive thank you to George @GeorgesJungleGarden for making this film and showcasing our garden in such a creative and immersive way. Your followers and friends know how much you enjoy film making and when we had the pleasure of your company in June your passion for it really shone through. Our garden is a difficult space to film well and you did wonders. Thanks again George. We love it. 😊👌🌿🌴🌳

[joannefuller]

Absolutely stunning. I am watching my third time around. So jealous(in a good way). I am in north Texas. No rain in ages. 105°F today, is how it goes. We just keep things barely alive in August & Sept.

[sharonparsons]

What a lovely couple and what a stunning garden, I am in awe! 💕💕💕

[janna]

This was a wonderful tour. The couple is as beautiful as the garden

[haideefox]

What a fantastic video, youve shown off this garden as close as 'in person' as possible, it is even better in the flesh! Annmarie and Andrew have worked such magic, a real treat to explore.

[gabelaw]

I love this garden! This is one to rewatch regularly George, a classic. So much inspiration, and such lovely people, creating a sanctuary together. I need more trees!! Thanks all involved for your time, perfection 😘

[richardjohnson]

Brilliant - That has to be my ideal garden. I love their use of water which is often overlooked in tropical garden videos. Appreciate water isn't for all due to young children or pets etc. but their pondless stream was genius! Food for thought George??!! 😆

[Omlittlebuddha]

I love pigeons too! I have a pair nesting in my garden and they are just delightful to watch, and have wonderful personalities. ❤

[Islandgirlever]

Hi George, Inspired by your AMAZING garden, along with others in the UK in the same zone as I live in here in France, I bought myself my first fatsia japonica and planted it last week.. Very happy with it, but realised it got pretty burned by the sun, though I thought my shade sail covered that spot, so added a shade cover over it... I have a Japanese style garden on one side of the yard, and an English garden on the other side... I plan on added more tropical plants over time.. Thanks a bunch.. Cheers, Leesa in the French countryside!

[danwilson]

The fish pond is good for tying it together, big brightly coloured fish really emphasises the overall exotic vibe.

[peterwilcock]

Thank you George another brilliant production from a wonderful garden. Thanks also to Annmarie and Andrew for sharing their Garden and knowledge.

[vincenzecalzone]

I kept this tour for Friday night so I could enjoy a beer 🍺 or two. I've had the pleasure of visiting their fantastic garden last August. Beautifully crafted, a superb oasis of calm in the city. George, you've done an amazing job of filming the space so well. The conversation also between the 3 of you frames the whole experience. Brilliant work all of you. Fabulous 👌

[DOLLYPEG]

Just a fantastic inspirational garden Wow

[markborder]

What a fantastic garden. Great to see so many of two of my favourite plant groups: ferns and ivies.
I just wish it was closer to me so I could visit it through the gardens scheme.

[mrchuffy]

Wow what a garden, interesting about the gunnera cryptica! Usually I think I can do this when you put a garden tour up but the money involved in this must be immense, thanks for the video!

[paulharten]

Watched this video a few times - absolutely love your videos ! So inspirational as we're starting out from a very blank canvas - big garden and desperate for that instant jungle look but having watched so many of your videos i'm getting inspiration and have to accept it's not an instant thing - thank you 🙂

[helenazzopardi]

What a lovely couple and garden. Thanks George for showing us this amazing garden.

[stevenlester]

I just loved everything about this garden and the lovely couple who have created a beautiful oasis thank you for sharing your passion.

[Castlebahun]

So tranquil. You have done a superb job! Must be like a dream sitting there with a cup of tea :}

[staffordshireShane]

What a beautiful garden .All the water, trees and ferns . My type of gardening . just cool, calm and a fantastic place to relax afterr a hard day at work . I loved this planting style . Thanks for sharing your fabulous garden with all of us .