Today’s video is the long-awaited update to my Fire Pit series, my biggest sunken patio and raised exotic / Mediterranean bed garden build project! Progress has been slower this year but I’m excited to share with you what I’ve been working on so far. The atmosphere is really starting to develop now I’ve got some more of my sculptural, drought-tolerant and tough Yuccas, Agaves, rare hybrid palms and other annuals in the ground and growing away – the general theme is desert / arid / Mediterranean with a bit of a naturalistic and coastal edge. If you want some hardy exotic plant ideas and garden theme inspiration for sunny borders and sandy / stony well-drained gardens then look no further! From a huge specimen Olive tree to tough and hardy palms and a selection of striking yuccas, my goal was to create an area of planting that can be really enjoyed and give the wow factor in summer but with the toughness to not depend on winter protection and summer watering. There might just be a couple of planting surprises and design evolutions though, including the planting of an ultra-rare palm you might not have seen before… I hope you enjoy the garden transformation so far and please leave me a comment if you’ve got any ideas or suggestions on how I can make it even better!
0:00 Intro
0:37 My biggest garden project – the story so far
1:21 Life update / excuses / unnecessary monologue
6:15 My spring garden project progress – raised beds plus palm & yucca planting
8:21 U.K. tropical style garden project – sunken seating area & fire pit tour
12:09 Desert island border – Jubaea chilensis & Mediterranean sun-loving plants
15:37 Exotic plant bank / raised bed with colourful succulents & huge palms
19:10 Cold-hardy hybrid palms & a rare Butyagrus eriospatha feather palm
21:54 Chamaerops humilis ‘Vulcano’ & Jubutia hybrid feather palm specimens
22:24 George’s Jungle Garden Fire Pit & sunken patio project progress reveal
23:04 Tough and cold hardy yucca plants for hot, dry & drought-tolerant gardens
29:00 Building a raised bed to improve drainage for exotic & tropical style plants in full sun
35:46 Yucca linearis / linearifolia – stunning and incredibly hardy exotic specimen plant
37:06 Desert palms, sedums, Agave ovatifolia & Kniphofia northiae in raised gravel bed
45:12 Fast growing evergreen Eucalyptus trees for small & large gardens – huge growth rate!
48:48 Cordyline australis winter damage, recovery and dead Butia odorata
54:19 Beautiful scented roses for wildlife and summer colours – yes, really!
57:45 Yucca rostrata ‘Blue Swan’, red hot pokers, arid planting & olive tree
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40 Comments
paint the brickwork a nice dark colour george with some real good tikki torches all around the fire pit !! it will look awesome george ..even put some speakers in the wall and connect them to bluetooth .. great job george
Great video George. You have been busy. Looking fabulous. Can’t wait to see it when it’s finished. Keep being a great dad and we’ll remain patient fans.👍🏻
Thanks for uploading!
Coming along great George 😀 love it. Spot lights around the dry areas would look fantastic 👍🏻
George, what you’ve already achieved, especially when you consider what a busy time you’ve had, is miraculous. The bones are all there mate; You can only do what you can do. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself.
Looks amazing. Maybe an arid biennial like a Verbascum bombyciferum or Echium wildpretii could help fill out some gaps while you're waiting for everything to grow out too. Delosperma and Lewisia are commonly available groundcover succulents that'd work well too.
Definitely alot of work in our little pieces of paradise and moving stuff around. I did a nice gravel path through the palms to the seating area ,looks awesome and very in keeping with the natural theme. Just a idea ?Keep up the good work mate 👍
It’s coming along great you ought to pick those free blackberries and make a pie You have a lovely wife and Daughter The garden will look great in a few years nice to see an update
30:43 shout out @vincenzecalzone 👀😄
Looks amazing George. And such a lovely thing to say in regards to how much your family means to you, and they come first ❤
Your best video yet George, stupendous, enjoyed every minute, you are such an inspiration, especially to novice jungle gardeners such as myself. Keep doing what you are doing, you are creating a show stopping, master piece of a garden and i feel priviledged to enjoy your journey to perfection with you 👌👍
Great to see you back at it george, and there i thought you had been falling asleep with the wee one. 😂 love the planting style, very unique and ballsy to go all out spikes and palms, maybe a few echiums or get the larger succulents inbetween for that contrast. Actually really like how its not the end of the garden and the eucalyptus section is there. Brilliant well done!
You said you’d be back George with your fire pit update….well worth the wait. Keep up the good work
absolutely love what you done. cant wait to see it finished. that dry stone wall is perfect cuz it looks like its always been there. and the one at the top. i think perfection looks to man made. oh and your little one is 10 times more beautiful than your garden.
Long awaited and I have really enjoyed, thank you. Your rocking being a family man too, enjoy every minute George and family 😘
Cheers for sharing George. Always enjoy the balance
I bought some Lamb's ear's this year for my front North Facing garden, not sure if they will cope but so far so good
Oh WOW…it's gittin' good George…and that darling baby girl….WOW…I love your wonky cobble walls, they've given me some ideas to hold in all the mulch I've added to eventually raise the level of my yard to prevent water retention of the Florida downpours…my yucca, we call Spanish daggers have really taken off, as have the agave…my bananas are HUGE, one even has a bloom with many bananas, the dragon fruit is blooming and the bamboo has finally taken off, as have the Australian tree ferns…I have accomplished the pathways through my jungle food forest…now hopefully things are big enough if we should get another N. Florida freeze like last year…truly garden paradise in England and Florida…thanks for the update, it's looking great and I am inspired…!!!
good morning sir..very good sharing
Hi George, I want to thank you for inspiring me into creating my own exotic garden, I finished mine back in June although gardens are never really finished. I spent most of my budget on a Jubaea, it looks great as the centerpiece surrounded by banana plants, trachys, ect…
Your fire pit is gonna be something else, looking forward to seeing it finished. Might I suggest you run a power cable up there before you commit to the path as you may wanna add a water feature & lighting later.
The pink flowers you have between your Yuccas sounded like ice daisies but I think I heard you wrong as I'm having trouble Googling them.
It occurred to me that Aubrieta would look great cascading down some of the walls you have there.
Mapei Rapid-Set Adhesive worked really well for me at setting down headstones on top of the garden walls, got mine from screwfix.
Good luck with it all especially the fathering stuff.
Love your garden! Especially the variety of yuccas. Look forward to your updates.
Hi George did u have to have planning permission to do uou fire pit?
thank you for an informative video once again. Amazing backyard and plant display.🙂
I think your garden is looking beautiful. I absolutely love the slate table that you have created with the cactus potted up on top! Your olive tree is spectacular! I have an old one myself – never fails to make my heart smile whenever I see it. Another very inspiring video! Thanks George! Much love to you and your beautiful family xxx
What an epic intro! 🔥 Great video George, I look forward to seeing your garden and fire pit continue to develop and mature over the coming years 🙂 Your daughter will thank you for the firepit when she’s at an age that her friends want to come over and chill on sunny summer evenings 👍
Looks amazing George . Are you going to put drainage in the fire pit ?
Fantastic video George. Thanks for sharing all your hard work and vision. You are inspiring.
What a video! The production value is insane for a YouTube video.
Be interesting tonsee how your Butyagrus Eriospatha fairs planted out over the winter as i also have one but it wont be planted until next spring and probably need it in a raised bed to give it good drainage. Are you going to do give it any addition protection?
The fire pit area is looking epic 😎
Great Video George! Wise words about parenthood.
Looking forward to seeing it develop and flourish.
Great work George . Ive got a 2 1/2 year old and started my garden months before he was born so i feel your pain 😀. Was hard to justify gardening at the start but now he is out watering and " potti dem up" as he calls it and we get out each evening for a few hrs. Loving this long video and keep them coming they get me through my lunch break. Some small colourful phormium may look good in the transition up to the fire pit. Got a nice cocomint one the other day that stays on the small side and looks so good. 🏜🏝
I was bloody worried Angela would watch your fire pit video and want one herself, instead she watches it and wants a baby! Do I have to block you mate?
Excellent content as always, thanks George!
Your a legend George been watching your videos since the start very inspirational and its certainly helped me sort out my own garden! 😃, all the best mate keep doing what your doing 🙌🙌
Oh Wow George, you have absolutely excelled yourself! What an amazing video , and so worth the wait. And what a Gorgeous baby as well as a fabulous desert planted fire pit. Thank you , I loved it all !
Well what can I say…
That intro and some of the special camera affects were incredible. The piece on balancing family and work/ YouTube life really resonated with me. The update on the planting areas and fire pit were really interesting, leading to me wanting to ask you a million and one questions!!
Finally nobody cares about the weeds. We all just look past that and admire the amazing plants 🪴 😀😃😁
I'ts looking great! I hope the plants do well in the raised beds and look forward to future updates. Enjoy time with your daughter, so cute!
Loved the pics of you enjoying time with the family! Your daughter is a doll! I remember last year you talking about your fire pit plans and also that you were expecting a baby. It seemed like a lofty goal then. Just realized that this might not be your season of productivity on projects. Once your child is a bit older you can get back to those other things, but for now, they might move along a lot slower or not at all. I also loved seeing the photo of how much your eucalyptus has grown in a year and a half! My jaw dropped!
As always, thanks for the video and inspiration. Love your videography and catching your plants in the prime lighting
Wonderful video, the garden is looking great!
Kids? 😍
Great video George! What an intro! The planting is amazing. It will be an amazing place in the garden to chill out and also a great place for your daughter to bring her friends in the future! Cherish every moment with your daughter, believe me time flies! Can't wait to see the end result….
I'm only at the start of your video… but 'yes!', when you're a parent, that time just disappears. I used to do a lot of my gardening in the evening after work. I bought a head torch and did some in the dark too! I had a very productive year before the little one arrived. It was probably the most productive, because you get more done when you know you're on a timer… I'm now reaping the benefits of that hard work, but as always, I'm also wishing that I'd started/finished some projects back then (both garden and house projects), because getting them done now is a lot more difficult. But… you will find time again! You can't predict when, but it will happen. Because when I look at my garden (and my house) I do realise that even post-baby there are a lot of projects that I have actually started and… completed!!!
(now back to watching the video… can't wait to see where things are at now with the firepit project… might take me a while to actually finish watching the whole video though ;). I'm watching it in bits here and there!)
Really impressive George. I love it. I'm also impressed that , unlike our garden there are no Dachshund self dug crators!!