Leading landscape gardeners suggest ways of transforming urban backyards into tropical forests

Living in a concrete jungle like Bangkok can be stifling. But while urban life may mean squeezing into increasingly smaller condos, townhouses or rented apartments, it’s still possible to feel the soil between your fingers, watch new buds sprout and bloom, and enjoy the freshness of greenery.
“Living Unlimited”, the theme of this year’s Baan Lae Suan (Home and Garden) Fair at Impact Arena in Muang Thong Thani, showcased some novel ways of bringing the forest into the city.
Vertical gardens may be a relatively new term but the idea is as old as the hills – just think of climbing plants on picket fences.
Today, the idea is to grow more plants in less space.
Warawut Kaewsuk has been providing vertical garden design services for almost a decade, with foreign residents making up to 80 per cent of his clients.
The owner of Sasiwarai Landscape & Collectibles in Chon Buri, has a signature style, one that mimics the grandeur of the tropical forest.
Stand near his garden wall and you will feel the coolness of water mists amidst a riot of ferns, wild orchids and bromeliads.
Inspired by the primary forests along Thailand’s western border, Warawut brings the lush greenery and refreshing ambience of Tee Lor Su, Thailand’s highest waterfall, in Kanchanaburi’s Umpang District – into your backyard.
“You don’t need a large garden. Even if you only have a small space, you can turn the back wall into a part of the forest,” he explains.
All you need is to create depth and dimension out of the flat wall, generate cooling mists with electrical humidifiers, grow forest plants and mosses, and install a watering system.
“Mixing plants requires some experience. You need to know the nature of each type. My trick is to observe the plants in nature,” the designer adds.
He uses kha luang ferns (bird’s nest fern or Asplenium) and chay pa sida (Platycerium) for the upper level plants that need more sunlight along with orchids, and a variety of ferns and cascading plants, for lower levels.
A cheaper and easier way of setting up a vertical garden is to opt for rows of green climbers, the kind that can be bought individually and are usually threaded around coconut husks held with wire.
To create a curtain – a beautiful screen for a sun-drenched patio or balcony – carefully cut the bottom of the husks and tie the wire ends together.

More notions
Here are some more ideas to bring some verdant verve to your personal space.
A variety of plants in one pot can make your place more colourful.
It is not a new idea as we are accustomed to oriental-style bonsai gardens in small trays. This contemporary style allows you to grow normal-sized plants in a single pot.
Choose plants with similar habits, such as houseplants, or cacti, advises Jetsada Tangrung, flower and garden designer, who is also a teacher at Wattana School.
Apart from the plants, you will need plenty of soil, an appropriate-sized pot, pebbles and terra-cotta figurines.
Jetsada demonstrated outdoor evergreen plants that need a lot of sunlight such as koson (croton), liew taiwan (false heather) and ground covering plants like prae shang hai (portulaca rose or rose moss).
The technique for combining plants is more or less the same as arranging flowers.
First work out where to put each plant, then make sure that your dream design can be realised by trying to place all the plants in their existing pots inside the larger pot.
If you choose to group together kitchen plants, a feast for the eyes may soon become a feast on the table!

Aree Chaisatien
The Nation