This Tropical Island landscaping project began in November 2024. The design team had made several trips to the resort, to iron out queries and design details. The rainy season in Koh Phangan is generally 1-2 months behind the majority of Thailand, but the team at Thai Garden Design decided this would be an opportunity, rather than a hindrance, given that with the amount of new plants and trees planned, they would be easier to dig in and install, as well as benefitting from the rains to keep the plants healthy!
To view the Video Diary of the Project, see here:
The KPN resort had been built on top of a high, harsh slope, leading around 100m down towards the beach. With this in mind, the owners had rightfully been concerned about drainage, and had separately contracted another company to build a central stream running down towards the beach. The thinking was that excess rain water would flow into the stream, helping it to quickly evacuate down towards the beach! An ambitious and smart solution, but more on this later.
The team went to work on the levelling and grading the gardens and slopes with this in mind, the team bringing in large amounts of topsoil and grading sand to flatten out the soil. Various interconnected pathways and decking areas are spaced along levels, and many of these held nooks and holes in the ground that needed to be filled, compacted and planted up.
Koh Phangan is mountainous and so there is an abundance of natural rock, which the resort used to effect to build the sides of the stream. The Thai Garden Team used their experience in building water features to improve the look and balance along both the stream and the holding pond at the very bottom. This holding pond would collect the excess water, and via overflow pipes, distribute this at various sections onto the beach.
Check out a Drone Shot of the amazing KPN Resort
Once the levels were corrected the plants began to arrive. An unknown challenge began! The traffic at the port to bring in materials to Koh Phangan. As we were at the beginning of the rain season, many of the ferry’s had to be cancelled due to bad weather! And so this meant at least initially, we had large delays on the larger trees and palms. It also became very clear that the optimism we had at the beginning of the project, with regard to this tropical Island landscaping project, rains might have been a little misguided, being that often whole days would have to be missed as the downpours made the site unworkable, and sometimes dangerously slippery. A few times loose boulders would dislodge and this lead to a few near misses!
The sides of the geotextile stream also failed in several places, due to the downpours, and the team got to work to back fill and re-attach the liner in many key areas, as well as improve the drainage so this didn’t reoccur! This was obviously not part of our scope, but we understand that during any project sometimes our team needs to adapt and dig in, in order so we can get the job done on time and on budget.
And as the stream began to look good again, the rains died off, and the supply chain of plants and materials evened out. We now had a large selection of different trees, palms and plants on site.
We employed a good amount of Macarthur Palms to create height and privacy, taller shrubs like alocasia, heliconia and exotic fan palms to also create green depth and tropical vibes.
Some amazing wax palms, betel nut palms and foxtail palms were brought in to give height and block some neighboring window views! Plus Livingstonia rotundifolia and Bismark palms were brought in for their spikey width, height and tropical presence.
At the top of the resort, at the entrance, Song of India and bougainvillea were used for their vibrant colour and ability to spread, meaning that over time the entrance would become more colorful and alive.
Over time, the resort began to really take shape, the once bare brown earthen resort started to look more like a tropical outpost, especially more so as the rains glistened off the various shapes and foliage of the shrubs and trees.
Ground covers and various fern types were used to break up the stream areas and would grow well in the shade offered up by the new palms. These along with some colourful star jasmines, lily turfs and bromeliads decorated the floor to give an amazing designed feel to this sloping rugged landscape.
Finally, the team grassed the pool area, and sides of the resort, the finishing touch to complete this wonderful garden. A broad leafed Malaysia grass was used, for it low maintenance properties in both sunlight and shade.
A great tropical Island landscaping project for the team to be involved in, and the KPN Resort owners were blown away by the final results. It was an amazing project to be a part of, and we wish KPN Resort a prosperous and bright future.
