Welcome to the jungle

Welcome to the Jungle is a new and exciting line of foliage plants from Dummen Orange.

For consumers encountering this amazing collection for the first time during the winter months, their first thought might be of the many new possibilities for raising the bar in their indoor gardens.

Beyond a doubt, these new foliage varieties offering a wide range of leaf sizes, shapes, forms and colour options will do just that.

But Welcome to the Jungle is so much more. Any one of the dozens of varieties has a story to tell and can be integrated with your home décor or added to your outdoor containers and hanging baskets.

Dummen Orange is a leading breeder in ornamental horticulture, breeding and propagating bedding plants and perennials. Welcome to the Jungle has caught the attention of nursery growers because each variety can easily be grown in a greenhouse environment along with other types of annuals, says Dummen Orange planning analyst Samuel Kocher.

“Our foliage plants are grown in the same location by the same people growing and harvesting our annuals and perennials, so there is nothing new to learn besides getting familiar with the plants and how they behave in a greenhouse environment,” says Kocher.

Owen Vanstone, of Portage la Prairie’s Vanstone Nurseries, says he plans to offer a good cross section of the Welcome to the Jungle collection to retail garden centres in spring 2026. “We are committed to growing this collection,” says Vanstone. “There are certainly some exciting varieties in the mix which we have really enjoyed this year.”

I had a chance to enjoy several of the varieties this year, as well. Tucked into four-inch pots, the plants arrived at my door in late May. Sure, I could have trialled them exclusively as indoor houseplants, but it was just too tempting to add these intriguing foliage plants to my outdoor containers.

Flowering annuals are the staple ingredients of container-garden designs, right? Incorporating foliage — but not just any foliage — opens a whole new world.

“I like to think of it as finding the replacement for that standard run-of-the-mill filler plant,” says Kocher. “Maybe you are sick of Lysimachia Creeping Jenny and you want to try something else. A totally new combination could change the way you think about your container designs.”

Let’s take a closer look at the Welcome to the Jungle collection and how you could use these remarkable foliage plants as an indoor houseplant or in your outdoor planters or hanging baskets. Some varieties are perfect for adding velvety texture or unusual colour or patterns. Others can be trained to climb a trellis or you can drape their trailing stems elegantly across your mantle or windowsill. It’s your choice.

Succulent-foliage crossover

Pereskia Variegata offers perhaps the biggest surprise, so let’s begin there. It’s not quite a succulent but not a typical foliage plant either. Interestingly, Pereskia Variegata is a distant relative of the Cacti family. In the indoor environment where it has the opportunity to realize its full potential, it will develop the spiny stems of its Cacti cousins.

Kocher describes Pereskia Variegata as the ultimate succulent-foliage crossover. The new growth on this compact, upright plant with gently arching leaves starts out red. But as the plant matures, combined with the effects of heat and light, the large foliage turns orange then yellow then green. Imagine the impact of all these colours at once.

I combined Pereskia Variegata with begonias in white and raspberry-red along with Scotch moss, sedum, spider plant and ivy in a low-profile container where it received full morning sun and afternoon shade. The addition of Pereskia Variegata elevated the design from ordinary to intriguing. I would compare the effect of Pereskia Variegata to the way a beautiful bow acts as the finishing element on a wrapped gift box. Make sure to give this striking foliage plant a try.

Delosperma Gherkin is so adorable with its compelling, pickle-shaped foliage that pairing it with accompanying plants is unnecessary. But play with it and let your imagination run wild. Delosperma Gherkin is said to develop dainty yellow flowers as it matures.

Crassula Bling is a funky, textured succulent with silvery leaves. It makes a strong statement as the thriller in a mixed container, or you can create even more impact by massing three or five together in a container.

Peperomia is a popular genus that is easy to grow and perfect for displaying in small containers or hanging baskets indoors or outdoors. Welcome to the Jungle features a wonderful assortment of Peperomia varieties. Pepperspot looks like a wild hair day. The two-toned leaves on wiry stems are a rich green on top, with a bronze underside and red stems.

Plants make people happy and Peperomia rotundifolia Jitterbug is positively delightful. This trailing Peperomia has an abundance of nickel-sized round foliage on long, slender stems that tumble downwards with a certain vivacity. Jitterbug would be lovely in a terrarium or fairy garden or displayed in the border of a mixed planter.

Pilea glauca Mystifall is another cascading beauty with ultra-small, silvery round foliage. I like Pilea Pantano, too, for its bright, almost chartreuse trailing foliage.

But the small, patterned leaves of Peperomia String of Turtles and Pilea ceropegia String of Hearts are like miniature jewels. The dark-green “turtle shell” patterned leaves of String of Turtles have purple undersides. The semi-trailing foliage is ideal for hanging baskets.

Pilea ceropegia String of Hearts has small, silvery-green, heart-shaped leaves with reddish undersides on very long, vining stems. The delicate-looking stems are so sturdy that not even Winnipeg’s winds at their most ferocious could cause any harm when I grew it this past summer.

Both Peperomia String of Turtles and Pilea String of Hearts are resilient foliage plants that prefer slightly drier conditions, a marvellous attribute for those of us who don’t have time to be constantly watering our plants.

Display all of these dainty plants at eye level for everyone to admire the intricacy of their beautiful patterns.

Senecio Variegated Wax Ivy is a game-changer. The thick, waxy leaves sport attractive yellow and green variegation that seems to turn up at almost every triangular point. It is less-susceptible to pests than English Ivy and possesses greater tolerance to high-light conditions. Let the stems cascade or climb a trellis!

I was also struck by the velvety foliage of Philodendron Micans. The heart-shaped leaves are a deep olive-green with burgundy undersides. Philodendron Brazil has two-toned bright-green leaves with a bold splash of golden yellow. I paired these with macrophylla hydrangeas in my outdoor planters. Picture them growing along a windowsill or mantle.

Not all the foliage plants in the Welcome to the Jungle collection need to be grown in shade condition. Some, like Tradescantia Tortuga, thrive in bright light or full shade. This vigorous grower features tiny, turtle-shell shaped leaves with a silvery-green top and purple undersides.

Next year I plan to try Tradescantia Sanna which has green foliage with pinstripe white veining.

Which varieties from the Welcome to the Jungle collection will you grow in your indoor or outdoor jungle?

colleenizacharias@gmail.com

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