Many years ago back in the early seventies when I got hooked by the exotic bug I made the big mistake of cramming to many plants into a small garden.
No matter what I did that garden always ended up looking a total mess.
You name and i grew it and looking back at my old photos the amount of color i had was totally overdone and the wind ,rain and slugs made everything look rubbish by early August.
So in the end I concentrated on hardy palms and now although I have a lot of plants they do at least have a subtropical theme and i have got rid of all the fussy weak things that i used to grow.
Now i have a garden full of "hardy exotics" with hardly any lifting or moving "except 4 pots" and no slugs either.
I got rid of all "so called bedding plants" and time wasting hanging baskets "which were always getting stolen anyway" and my life is richer and easier for it.
So the theme to this post is grow good tough hardy palms etc and save time and money and constant frustration because whatever you do you will never beat the weather in this country.
Good luck
billdango