This is an absolutely fabulous exotic with enormous leaves up to 30cm across by 90cm long. The leaves are held on thick stalks a meter or more above the ground. More unusual varieties can be purchased from specialist grows such as ‘Black Magic’ which, as its name implies, has deliciously purplish-black leaves.

It is borderline hardy taking several degrees of frost if well mulched otherwise do dig the plants up and store over winter like potatoes. I kept mine in a pot located in a light, very warm room last winter and managed to have new leaves appearing all through the dark days of December and January.

It can grow to around 1-1.5m and loves full sun to dappled shade in any well-drained garden soil with lots of extra organic matter. The soil needs to be kep moist at all times so do mulch heavily to retain moisture.

These stunning plants provide a really full-on jungle effect and take extremely well to container growing as you can see: