From My Library: Tropical Garden Design

"Mádě Wijáya" is actually a professional, adopted name of an Australian who was so enamored by tropical plants and gardens that he moved to Bali and began a second career as a landscaper. He has since been recognized as one of the first career landscapers who developed a "Tropical Asian" look that finds its roots in Balinese gardens but has come to foster a lot of un-Asian thematic, even theatric schemes in gardening.

Undoubtedly, many people have preceded him and may have even been better, but it is to his credit that he made it popular, systematic, and recognized in other parts of the world. Many people still call this style Balinese, both the landscaping and the architecture, but it is really a mishmash of many influences that have evolved to the present-day style.


Tropical Garden Design is a good reference book for aesthetic design and the visual side of landscape architecture. The photographs are sumptuous and inspiring, priming your creativity to re-do your garden or buy new pots or just do anything to make you keep up with the remarkable gardens in the book.