Creating a good garden requires thought, planning

Prasert Tulapol, owner of Suan Prasert on RamIndra Road, says that his first step when designing a tropical garden is to investigate the direction that the house faces.

If the front of the house faces east, northeast or southeast, the gardener should select plants for this area that need sunlight up to 60 per cent of each day.

If, on the other hand, the front of the house faces west, northwest or southwest, the gardener has to provide plants that need sunlight less than 60 per cent of the time.

When the gardener selects plants that are suited to the quantity of sunlight in any part of the garden, they will be healthy and easy to care for in the long term.

If they are not chosen for exposure to sunlight, the garden may look beautiful for a short while, but the plants may soon whither or die.

An example of Prasert's work is a tropical garden around a house at Perfect Masterpiece in Soi Ekamai, RamIndra Road.

He designed the garden last year, but it remains as beautiful as the day it was completed. Prasert says the homeowners wanted a colourful, lively garden surrounding their home, to enjoy in the hours they spent at home.

He studied the house site and the path of the sun from sunrise to sunset, to help him to select plants suited to the location, so he could create a tropical garden with easy maintenance.

The house faces southeast, so Prasert selected plants that not only need plenty of sunlight, but also create pools of shade in front of the house, soon after sunrise.

He mixed and matched between perennials and smaller plants by creating curves and contrasts between dark green, bright green and colourful plants. He also set up a fern corner, with orchids and a small fountain near a pavilion.

"Homeowners and visitors will be able to relax in the pavilion. It creates a kind of resort feeling," he says.

Prasert selected stones and pebbles to form a path linking the front garden with a small garden behind the house.

Grass cannot grow in this area because there is insufficient sunlight, so stones and pebbles have been laid down to create a stone garden, and the plants are of a kind that need direct sunlight for less than 30 per cent of the day.

The tropical garden surrounding the Bt25million detached house cost Bt380,000 to create, and ease of maintenance was built into the design.

However, Prasert's design does not lose its beauty when the sun goes down.

He set up lighting around the garden to make it a magic place at dusk.

He says the lighting creates a different feeling for the homeowners because their garden is seen in different colours, when the plants are lit by artificial light.

"We learn the activities of the homeowners and try to create a garden in which they can relax. Owners who spend all of each day at work also need to enjoy their gardens in the cool of the evening, after a hard day's work. The garden must create a different feeling at night," Prasert says.

The tropical garden at the house in Perfect Masterpiece is an example for those who want to feel like they can relax any time in their own resort, at home.

"A great garden is an important part of creating your own haven at home. Make it match your lifestyle," Prasert says.