Many people dream of living out their days in a tropical jungle – but one man’s made it a reality by turning his back garden into the most amazing hidden rainforest.

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61-year-old Nick Wilson was inspired to transform his garden in Leeds after falling in love with big plants during a few family holidays in Cornwall in the 1990s.

In 1998, he decided to dedicated his entire backyard to large plants – and even opened the hidden paradise to visitors six years ago.

According to Nick, the entire jungle project took him 20 years to complete. Combining the likes of large ferns, bamboos and big leaf plants, he’s now owner to his dream garden.


Nick said: ‘I had no idea that I liked big, thick enormous plants so much. It was just such a difference to soft, fluffy garden plants. It’s definitely a bloke’s garden.



‘My inspiration came from family holidays to Cornwall in the 1990s and suddenly my back garden was overflowing with massive plants.’

Nick explained that the beautiful garden first started with a Gunnera Mannicata, also known as a Chilean rhubarb, which he bought in a garden centre in Cornwall and can grow to be four metres tall with three metre-wide leaves.

Nick said: ‘I bought it in a garden centre in Cornwall and put a seat belt around it in the back of the car to get it back home.

‘That’s the thing – the plants in here aren’t actually that rare. You should be able to pick them up at any garden centre in the UK.

‘The key plants in this jungle are Tetrapanax Rex, Gunnera Mannicata and the Tree Fern.’

Nick, who’s a father and a grandfather-of-one, now opens his garden to visitors for viewings, and donates the proceeds to different charities.

The Garden Jungle, as he so calls it, has already hosted an open day this year, in partnership with Roundgay Open Gardens, which attracted 500 visitors and raised £2,500 pounds for St. Gemma’s Hospice in Moortown.

And Nick doesn’t plan to stop there. On 30 July, he will be teaming up with the National Garden Scheme to open his jungle paradise to visitors. He plans to give the money raised to the Marie Curie and McMillan cancer charities.

Of course, while Nick does give all of the proceeds raised through his events to charity, he does have to fork out a little himself on the upkeep of his Jungle Garden. However, he said it’s actually not that expensive at all – surprisingly.

Nick said: ‘Now that everything is set up, the main cost is yearly maintenance but I’d say that only comes to about £200.

‘I’ve got a lot of wooden walkways and fixtures, so obviously they need cleaning and maintaining, usually with a pressure washer.

‘In order to create the jungle effect I use normal English bedding like geraniums and New Guinea hybrids. I buy a lot of those types of plants every year.

‘Over winter a lot of the plants can be protected from the cold by wrapping their leavers back around the stems. I bring the rest indoors and take them back out around May.’

Nick absolutely loves his gorgeous back garden – and he enjoys knowing that it’s helping raise funds for people in need.



The garden will always the most special place for Nick’s grandson, who just loves to play in his granddad’s amazing rainforest.

Nick said: ‘My grandson loves it. We’ve put in loads of plastic spiders and other animals that he absolutely loves. It’s a really nice place for him to run around and play.’

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