There's nowhere better to start than with palms and tree ferns if you want to enliven contemporary schemes and add a sense of lushness to seasonal plantings.

Award-winning garden designer Andrew McIndoe explains: "Today, exotics are used extensively, to enliven contemporary schemes and to add a sense of lushness to seasonal plantings."

The cabbage palm, Cordyline australis, is popular today, used as an accent subject in seasonal bedding schemes and containers, says McIndoe, deputy managing director of Hillier Garden Centres and co-author of the latest in the Hillier book series, Planting With Trees.

More mature cordylines can be used as architectural focal points in coastal and Mediterranean schemes.

"If left to mature, it grows quickly into a splendid single-stemmed small tree with an impressive head of long, sword-like leaves," he explains. Other exotics include the tree fern, Dicksonia antarctica, another popular species in the contemporary garden which is particularly suited to smaller spaces as it's slow growing. Its heavy brown trunk and impressive fern leaves gives an instant tree effect and a subtropical feel.

A lot of its root system is actually in its trunk, so you need to bury some of the trunk in the ground to anchor it securely. It will also need watering regularly and spraying around the crown. If you live in a cold area, place straw or fleece around the crown and trunk during the cooler months to help protect it.

The leaves generally die away and the plant becomes dormant until spring.

For a bigger space you might opt for Trachycarpus fortunei, the windmill palm, which is the hardiest of the large true palms and grows up to 5m (15ft) or more.

Its fan-shaped leaves are truly impressive.

Another exotic candidate which provides a strong architectural symmetrical shape is the monkey puzzle (Araucaria araucana), with its long, deep green bristly branches.

Before you plant one, have a look at a mature tree to make sure you have room for it - it may do better planted as a small, container-grown tree. Many palms need a mild winter to survive, such as Butia capitata, a small tree with elegant arching leaves, and Phoenix canariensis, which in a mild spot will make an impact quickly.

McIndoe suggests good planting companions for exotics include Osmunda regalis, a fern which complements the Dicksonia antarctica and also enjoys damp conditions in semi shade. We've long seen the popular canna used as the central point in containers or to add a tropical feel to borders along with lilies, dahlias and coleus providing masses of exotic-looking flowers and foliage, but bananas will also sit alongside palms and cordylines in the mildest regions.

The Musa basjoo is one of the hardiest bananas. Its leaves die back in winter but it should produce new leaves the following summer. Keeping the underground portion from freezing.

Heaps of autumn leaves piled over the root zone will usually do the trick. But in cooler areas banana stems will need to be protected over the winter.

Individual stems can simply be bandaged with horticultural fleece or hessian - effective though not necessarily the beauty-prize winner.

With careful planting, you won't have to travel to the tropics for a lush, exotic feel to your garden.

* The Hillier Gardener's Guides: Planting With Trees, by Andrew and Rosamond McIndoe, is published by David and Charles, priced 14.99.