Tropical Gardens: A jungle setting in your own backyard

Tropical Gardens: A jungle setting in your own backyard

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The beauty of tropical plants never loses its charms and it is
among the most popular concepts brought home to adorn residential
gardens.

When adopted for gardens, the tropical concept offers low-
maintenance natural attractiveness that highlights its wildness
and exoticness, all nicely blended on a piece of land.

"Tropical gardens have particular characteristics, including
that they last for years, usually focus on leafy trees and
plants, require little pruning but still maintain their beautiful
shapes and less hassle for maintenance," said Budi "Tuti"
Darmastuti from landscaping contractor Tata Eksotik.

"However, like other plants, tropical plants require basic
maintenance, like good watering twice a day, periodical feeding
and pesticide application and hoeing the earth near the roots to
make the soil less compact," she said.

The firm's director, Edwin Suryadi, explained that there were
different kinds of tropical gardens but one of local favorites is
the Balinese garden.

He explained that such a tropical garden would not only be
suitable for a Balinese-style terrace or house, but with careful
planning, such a garden can also be harmonious with those of
different designs.

He said that elements of the garden were differentiated into
"hard" elements, including those that highlight an ethnic theme,
like using statues, lamps, garden benches, pots, stones and other
natural stones as materials for the wall, pathway or artificial
pond.

"The use of these objects would bring the Bali theme in a
tropical garden concept. They usually are installed as the focal
point in the garden," he said, adding that placement of these
objects should be planned based on the garden and the position of
the house.

For optimum results, the terrace need to be furnished with
items made with tropical materials like wood or rattan.

For the "soft" elements, or the plants, Edwin added that
basically all tropical plants can be used, but certain plants do
exert a stronger tropical effect than others.

Among these plants are various kinds of palm trees, banana
trees, ferns and bamboo for leafy plants. Lotuses, orchids and
soka (or ixora), heliconia are perfect as flowering plants.

Tuti explained that most tropical plants flourish in areas
that receive direct or partial sunlights.

For ground cover, especially for areas that receive partial
sunlight, instead of using grass that may not survive in such an
area, people can use natural stones.

As usual, placement of the plants should be made based on
their height. The lowest plants (ground cover) can be planted on
the outer area of the plot, followed with medium height shrubs
and then tall trees, like palm trees, at the back.

Edwin stressed that each of the plants had a different
function, such as for ground cover, border and fence, and they
can be strategically placed based on their functions for esthetic
reason as well.

He said people can "break the rules" by installing medium
sized or tall trees in such a way as to better enhance the wild
tropical image.

"This trick is adopted to create an 'unpredictable' accent and
at the same time maintain the naturally wild character of a
tropical garden," he said.

There is also other considerations for selecting the right
kinds of tropical plants, which is the character or condition of
the household.

For this purpose, there are some basic questions -- including
whether they have a gardener or servant to take good care of the
garden, if there are children and do the adult members of the
family like gardening -- can help define what kinds of plants are
suitable or which placement is best for their gardens.

"For example, a prickly agave plant is not suitable for family
with children. If they love the plant, they can install it in an
inaccessible area. Families without domestic helper need low
maintenance garden," Tuti said.

Apart from proper watering twice daily, other routine
maintenance includes protecting the plants against pest attack by
using pesticide, feeding the plants with manure every three
months and fertilizer every two weeks.

"To avoid harmful effects of pesticide, it is important to
read the label carefully and to provide nutrients and favorable
soil condition for the plants. It is better to use manure and
fertilizer alternately," Tuti said.