On a recent trip to Bali I had the pleasure of visiting Villa Bebek in Sanur, the home and office of internationally renown landscape designer Made Wijaya.

Homes in Bali are traditionally compounds, consisting of different villas within a walled area. At Villa Bebek, there are courtyard gardens between the villas. These gardens give the compound the luxuriance of an oasis and the feeling of tranquillity; creating an ideal environment in which to live and work. As each villa or level within the villa is a single room, these courtyard gardens become part of everyday life as you move from room to room through the gardens within the compound.

One and a half hours west of subtropical Brisbane is the hinterland rim of the Great Dividing Range where the city of Toowoomba experiences what could be called a warm temperate climate. Amongst magnolias, daffodils and other temperate plants, gardeners are noted as growing a diverse range of subtropical and arid origin plants.

Many people move to acreage with dreams of establishing a large garden. Others have a house in the country, enjoying a quieter pace and decide to develop a garden to complement their new lifestyle. Developing a garden on a large scale can be very different to developing a suburban block and can appear daunting – but it does not need to be.

Establishing a garden on my own ten acre property, and having helped many people develop their own gardens over the years has alerted me to some of the pitfalls involved. I have seen many gardens change; from bare and barren landscapes, to beautiful show pieces, so I know that it can be reasonably straight forward – when you have a clear idea where you are heading.

[Additional images by John Dillon]

It’s quite likely that many readers with large gardens are ‘tree changers’. It’s both satisfying and challenging to leave the city and re-establish, frequently on a larger property. A more natural landscape, perhaps a small creek and resident wildlife, is part of the attraction.

There comes a time when plants are wanted that dazzle by themselves.

Ephemeral flowers that last a few days or weeks are delightful but the persistence of foliage that retains colour and captures your attention is a valuable asset for any landscape. Silver is one colour that inspires designers!

To maximise the use and visual appeal of a garden at night, a range of outdoor lighting is available ranging from the simplicity of solar to more complex wired low-voltage systems.

When done well with theright equipment, lighting will add significant value to your property both for re-sale and for your own pleasure. This article introduces the use of LED lights.

In the world of plants, flowers reign supreme as the decorative feature most often admired. However, in the tropics and subtropics flowers have a rival in the race...running a very close second is FOLIAGE. One could debate that foliage actually wins the race!