The project began with a meeting back a year earlier in early 2024, the owner a resident of New Zealand, and his Chinese wife were keen to engage a landscape design team early, as they had a keen interest in tropical gardens and wanted to discuss outcomes and overall potential / what was possible.
View our Youtube diary of the whole project here:
The plot was large, around 4,500 SQM, or nearly 3 rais, although much of this was taken up by the home, centrally located, and a large synthetic tennis court at the back of the plot. The front and side sections were where we would build the garden, and the home is designed with a lot of high and wide windows, both ground and second floor, so the views would need to stand out and be special. It would also require us to source and install some very tall palms that could be viewed from the higher floors (more detail later).
Coming from different backgrounds, the couple had some interesting ideas about which direction they wanted to go regarding the final look and emphasis of the landscape, but two things were clear, we needed to mix a combination of and dramatic tropical landscape, with a low maintenance requirement!
The project had many construction elements including the main house, out buildings, the tennis court and the pool, so it was difficult to pick a optimum start time, but several initial jobs could be tackled.. The soil levels were greatly compacted and depleted by the movement of construction machines over several months, and so these needed to be corrected and raised to an appropriate level, in the final outcome to be graded so that runoff would be directed towards drainage areas, and the owners were keen to have high quality soil, as much of the garden would be grassed with a fine Zoysia Japonica type grass, with meandering natural stone and sandstone pavers cutting through and leading to different areas of the home.
One major feature including within the design was a walled in herb and vegetable garden. A large section of the West side of the garden was dedicated to this. The team built a sturdy blockwork wall, with solid foundations, and cladded both sides with a natural boulder, to give a great natural stone wall effect. Our team have a lot of experience building these types of walls, which are proving very popular in homes across Thailand, for their timeless and great looking natural appearance.
Within the walled area, we installed an anti-weed fabric, with pebbled and paved floors for ease of walking through a maze of different planters, which would be dedicated to different herbs and veggies, which would be experimented with what works and what doesn’t work by the kids!
In total there are 5 large planters, with walking space around each. Each planted is constructed using a steel frame, and wood plastic composite imitation wood, a great alternative to wood that will not rot out or be attacked by bugs! Each planter was built with good drainage in mind, with fine gravel for several inches at the base of each planter, and permeable material so excess water can escape.
Adjacent to the herb garden, the team built a curving WPC decking, over 20 SQM in area, so a good size to host a garden BBQ party, just in front of the main house terraces and in clear view from the lower lounge areas.
At the front of the house and being constructed in tandem with all the other features, the team laid out the formwork for a large driveway, leading to the main entrance of the home and into a triple car port. Because of the tricky slopes from the road up to the house, this part needed careful planning so that the drive way could meet with the upper entrance steps, as well as flow correctly to the large open carport (on a different, lower level) and also match well with garden areas that meet with the driveway on both sides.
The team employed laser level finders, plus their long experience, to get each level correct which also ensuring good drainage grades for run off rain water.
The driveway was fully compacted with a sand gravel mix, a layer of reinforced concrete, and then a cobblestone topping which was cemented in place ( * note to Han Dan, another company done the cobblestone finish, and they really, really fucked it up royally, lol. Will tell you about it sometime).
When it came to the tree selection, our design team thought it would be best to opt for a mix of tried and tested tropical palms. The walkways are decorated with a mix of spikey and architectural wax palms, always a favourite in tropical gardens, plus silver palms at the entrance for wow factor.
We lined the walls with a tall 2m banyan tree hedge, or ficus, which over time knit their branches together quickly, to form a dense and thick green wall, which can be cut into box hedges at just about any height.
Lipstick palms with their lovely central red lipstick like rod are also used across the garden, view able from windows and terraces, and young foxtails giving height in areas and to break up the hedging.
At the front entrance the team installed a welcoming rock garden, with a tall and powerful looking dragon tree, decorated on the floor with dwarf date palms, king of heart ground covers, nampu grasses and colorful bromeliads, giving a great mix of foliage types and colors.
To add some height and tropical flair, the team planted 4 mature Jawa palms at 5m height, to break up the skyline and offer height across the back garden and give some balance to the large vibrant blue tennis court.
For the street side, at the front of the house, the tree selection here was hotly debated, with the owners really wanting something different from the standard palms and trees that decorate so house fronts. After offering several different options using computer generated images, we finally opted for some beautiful looking Black Ebony foliage trees, around 4m in height, giving a real style to the front road section, and definitely not an average or common choice of tree. These are native to SE Asia, and very much sought after for their dense, strong and durable wood.
And of course to finish off any low maintenance garden, our experienced sprinkler team were busy throughout laying pipework under driveways, pathways and front walls! To provide the garden with full water sprinkler coverage for all plants, grass, planters and trees.
Because the irrigation water was coming direct from the bore well, at the back of the property, we worked with the local filter provider to ensure the hard water was filtered through a series of tanks, chemically neutralizing and making it drinkable, and much more garden friendly.
All in all, the project ended up looking great, along with this amazing home. Thank you to Blair and Waffle for your help and guidance, the whole team really enjoyed this project.
