Balinese Garden Plants

Trees

• The intensity of the equatorial sun makes trees essential to the Balinese garden for practical and aesthetic reasons. The silhouette of the tree canopies casts welcome shade, softens the lines of buildings and extends greenery upward to meet the sky. Quintessential plants in the garden include a frangipani (Plumeria spp.), as well as any palm, either single or multitrunked. Tree ferns, any species of tropical fig tree, and flowering trees such as the royal poinciana (Delonix spp.), golden shower tree (Cassia spp.) and African tuliptree (Spathodea spp.). Any flowering tree warrants inclusion in the garden, as long as it matures to a size in scale with the property.

Shrubs

• The large foliage of bananas (Musa spp.), Abyssinian bananas (Ensete spp.), white bird of paradise (Strelitzia nicholai), gingers (Alpinia spp. and Zingiber spp.), mountain cabbage (Cordyline indivisa) and any heliconia make bold visual statements in the Balinese garden. Short-growing clumping palms also work, including lady palms (Rhapis spp.) or parlor and cat palms (Chamaedorea spp.), and selloums (Philodendron bipinnatifidum) bring an air of lush tropical exuberance. Other essential plants for the garden include any hibiscus, flame of the forest (Ixora spp.), and ti (Cordyline fruticosa). Add any cultivar of croton (Codiaeum spp.) for bold foliage color.

Orchids

• Any array of orchid species or hybrids brings glamour and beauty into a Balinese garden. Tropical ground orchids (Spathoglottis spp.) act as a tall ground cover element. Focus attention on mounting orchids onto palm and tree trunks, or on the tops of walls or gate posts. Growing orchids in hanging baskets allows the gardener to raise them in a remote location then move them into the garden when they seasonally flower. Showcase the blooming orchid in a prominent location. Grow any mix of cattleya, ondicium, dendrobium, cymbidium, lady slipper (Paphiopedilum), vanda or hybrid that pleases the eye when in bloom.

Ground Coverings

• Much like with Japanese gardens, raked and grooved beds of gravel and stone are found in Balinese gardens. Turfgrass also is acceptable, but should be considered only when other ornamental ground cover plants do not work in the design. Moss, oyster plant (Tradescantia spathacea), lilyturf (Liriope spp.), and any low-growing bromeliad, fern, philodendron, calathea, asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus), pothos (Epipremnum aureum) or joyweed/calico plant (Alternanthera spp.) fill in the gaps in between and under other garden plants to hide the soil.

Water Plants

• Adding aquatic plants to the water feature in the Balinese garden gives it a naturalistic look. Floating plants such as waterlilies (Nymphaea spp.), papyrus, canna, lotus (Nelumbo spp.) and sweet flag (Acorus spp.) interrupt the water's surface with both interesting leaf sizes and textures, and an occasional colorful flower.