TENDER and exotic plants are growing out of doors in profu-sion at Meon Orchard in Kingsmead - thanks to a little gardening "magic".

Banana palms, tree ferns, papyrus, mimosa, daturas, colourful cannas and exotic blue waterlilies can all be seen in late summer splendour in this unusual garden, which is opening to the public for the very first time tomorrow through the National Gardens Scheme.

Doug and Linda Smith have developed their garden together over a 12-year period, using a whole range of strategies to create a tropical paradise in the Meon Valley.

Many of their delicate, frost-sensitive plants are actually grown in containers, which are sunk deep in the flower beds and disguised by luxuriant grass-es or other ground cover plants. It is hard to believe they aren't permanently planted in the ground, but come the first frosts - generally in October - they are all lifted individually and moved into the glasshouses. This back-breaking task is usually completed in a single day.

Each hole in the ground is then filled with a container-grown frost-hardy plant. These winter plants (mainly conifers) are kept hidden in the wings, rather like like changes of scenery in a theatre! In the spring, there is yet another "scene change", when the bulbs burst into flower throughout the garden.

Papyrus, water cannas and tropical waterlilies are also grown in containers so they can be taken indoors in winter. In summer they flourish out of doors, in compost-and-water-filled pots, alongside the more familiar aquatic plants, which line the pools, streams and other water features. Don't miss the giant Koi carp circling lazily around their pool, which is behind the house.

Various delicate plants have grown too large to be moved indoors. Some, like the cordylines, have to take their chances out of doors, while the luxuriant Japanese banana palms (Musa basjoo) and other palms are given an "overcoat" of straw to keep them warm in winter.

"It's like a little temple built of straw bales," said Mrs Smith. "Then in the spring, the shoots start to sprout out of the temple roof and we know they've survived!"

Shelter from the wind is another secret of the Smiths' success.

"We've been here since January 1986," said Mr Smith. "One area was an old orchard, with about 12 apple trees. Most of them fell in the storms of 1987 and 1989, and some of the others succumbed to honey fungus.

"We wanted to create some height and shelter, so we have planted quite a few new trees."

The trees have been chosen with great care to break the wind and provide dappled shade - without blotting out too much light. They include birches and pencil conifers (grown from seed from the south of France), although the stars of the show are the many eucalyptus, ranging from small shrubs to trees over 40ft tall.

There is also what the Smiths call their mini Exbury Gardens, a corner filled with azaleas and rhodedendons, taking advantage of the neutral, alluvial soil in this area.

If you like hostas, you will be impressed by the flawless collection of plants growing in the partial shade at the back of the garden. More unusual are the frost tender Tasmanian stag's horn ferns (platycerium), growing around one of the trees trunks and, nearby, the brilliant orange tithonias.

There is also a section of New Zealand plants, including trees ferns and an unusual pampas grass from down under.

Smaller plants include cacti, succulents and carnivorous plants, which add to the sensation of arriving "overseas".

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