If you want a garden that's really exciting to look at all year round, include some unusual looking plants. Exotic plants have strong architectural shapes, many are evergreen and all bring a distinctive look to your garden. There are many hardy examples, and many which are borderline in frost prone climates. This means that you have the choice of whether or not you want to include plants that require cosseting in winter, wrapping in fleece or moving inside.

When choosing exotic plants, don't think in terms of single specimens, but what you will plant next to each one. Identify each plant place in your planting hierarchy - is it the top, mid or bottom layer? This will help achieve a lush look. Plant more densely to get a jungly feel; give trees and shrubs sufficient space to grow, but fill in with lower growing plants that can be removed as the larger ones grow bigger and fill out space.

Choose a good mix of exotic looking plants; include some with large leaves, spiky and sword shapes, and prickly plants. Spiky and sword shaped plants always look striking, and so they should be used to create focal points, such as on the brow of a curved border or at the intersection of paths. Repeat them in similar positions throughout your garden and maintain their dominant status by surrounding them with low growing plants.

Combining softer textured foliaged around spikes and sword shapes often works as a good contrast, for example, lamb's lugs (Stachys byzantina) with Yuccas, or the prickly burrs of Aceana with the spiky leaves of flax (Phormium). Prickly plants work well with spikes and contrast with larger leaved plants, and often have attractive seed heads, which will create additional late season and winter interest.

Make sure you provide your exotic plants with their ideal growing conditions by placing them in the right spaces in your garden. Make soil more free draining by adding grit for desert natives, add leaf mould and compost for lusher foliaged subjects and give moisture lovers a damp spot. Try growing borderline hardy shrubs against sunny south facing walls, either trained or free standing. The protection will help them to survive, and the radiated heat will assist the wood ripening process.

Plants that have a particularly fine shape or those with very attractive flowers, foliage, fruit, or stems are best grown with enough space around them for them to be seen and appreciated individually. Position them so that they form focal points from the lawn, terrace or house. In large gardens, such plants may be grouped in threes for bolder impact. Some exotic plants look particularly striking if grown in ornamental containers.