Black Bamboo

The Indian Bean Tree (Catalpa bignonioides) falls at the opposite end of the scale than those that are usually considered to be 'architectural' plants.

Chusan palm - Trachycarpus fortunei  is one of the hardiest palms in the world.

It can grow 20 metres tall in its native Asian environment, although can take up to 100 years to reach that size.

The jacaranda comes from the warmer parts of the globe - especially Brazil, Mexico and Central America, and Australia and southern Africa. Australian cities use it widely as a decorative tree.

Albizias are an attractive deciduous tree with frond-like leaves. The tree has a definite 'African Bush' look to it which is very appealing.

Most Albizias are found in the trpical and sub-tropical regions, but Albizia julibrissin (the Silk Tree) is an exception and is found in warmer temperate regions. The tree does like plenty of sunshine.

The Thread palm (Washingtonia robusta) is unlikely to reach the size shown in the picture in your temperate northern garden!

In its native Mexico it reaches 25-30 metres but many of us in cooler climes will be lucky to have a Thread Palm of half that height.

Sambucus nigra ‘Black Lace’ has delicate finely cut leaves that really are almost black. This fantastic black leaved version of the Common Elder is a delight for any garden.

It grows to a height of around 600 cm and is perfect for the back of a border providing a foil to brighter colours in front. Its own flowers, produced in June, are a lovely pale pink set off perfectly by the black leaves.

The Cabbage tree (Cordyline australis) hails from New zealand, where it reaches a height of 15 metres.

It has a single long stem, which becomes branched at the crown - branches fork after they have produced a flowering stem.

The Monkey Puzzle tree Araucaria araucana, originally from Chile and Argentina, has been growing in temperate regions since the middle of the 19th century so probably is not very exotic now. To me it also looks a bit 1970's - perhaps because at that time I had a friend with an enormous one in his front garden.

I have been a great fan of the Gingko tree since learning that it is one of the oldest trees on the planet, and is more or less unchanged since the days of the dinosaurs. Of course, i am also an enthusiast because of the natural beauty of the ginkgo!

The big feature of this tree is the leaves - they are a beautiful light bright green, almost veinless to look at, and have a very distinctive shape.

Tree Ferns (including Dicksonia antarctica) are ferns that have the leaves held away from the ground by a stem. Their architectural beauty made them the plant to have in the 1990's (I wonder how many are still thriving?) despite their elevated price tags.

Tree ferns grow very slowly, about 2cm in height each year, and prefer warm, humid shade conditions.