Kerala, INDIA | 2018
This is a Private Cottage garden in Wayanad, Kerala. This small property of about 200 square meters has a little cottage with a porch that overlooks a valley with the dazzling hills of the Western Ghats beyond.
The Garden is open to the sky and quite high up on the hill, leaving it exposed to the elements. There are no trees for shade and no tall walls or buildings around. The monsoon winds and rain hammer down for five months of the year and the hot summer sun for the other seven months.
Since this place is in the tropical climate belt the inspiration for the design was drawn from the Balinese style of tropical gardens. A very high diversity of plants was used to make every corner different, using diversity to make the garden feel larger than it is.
The borrowed view of the valley and the hills beyond was also used to give a feeling of a larger space. Taller plants like palms and trees were kept to the sides and the view over the valley maintained free. Although many plants found the long harsh dry season tough initially, most adapted by the second year, supported in part by the dense planting and micro climate created by the community of plants.
