Balinese gardens are world famous and have been extremely popular overseas for many years now. Evidence of this can be seen in the booming exports of Balinese style masonry and water features that you can see on the streets in and around Kerobokan and Ubud. People all over the world are trying to recreate the artistic tranquility of the Balinese Garden. To capture the essence of the traditional Balinese garden, you need to look at it from a Balinese perspective. A key element of the garden or courtyard is ‘spirit’. As an expression of this, Balinese gardens often feature burning incense (usually sandalwood) or an offering of flowers placed near a statue, as a gesture of thanks to the gods and goddesses. More decorative options would be a small temple (pura) or a stupa.
Generally the elements of stone, water, plants and a bale (gazebo) are the central themes of the Balinese garden. These gardens focus on using decoration with both painted and carved designs, made from stone and timber. Basic elements to consider would be features such as carvings or statuary (statues) either from Bali or with Balinese designs. Statuary should primarily be related to religious and mythical figures in Hinduism. Popular Balinese gods or goddesses will be set in a wall niche, or set amid lush greenery. When it comes to placement, discretion is the key. For a traditional look use Togog, which would include statues of Rama, Sinta, Ganesha and Saraswati, all characters from the Ramayana. You could also add warrior statues and Buddhas.
Water is also an essential part of this type of garden. A small pond filled with lotus and water-lily is an authentic touch. Make sure that you add a small fountain or waterspout as well as small fish to control the mosquitoes. At the very least a bowl of water with floating flowers and a couple of lit candles is sufficient as a water feature. Decorative arches or doorways are also common features and focal points. Various styles of gates or wooden doors are distinctive of Bali and Balinese gardens and they add to the overall artistic effect of the garden. A pair of temple doors can make for an eye catching ornamental feature and is a great way to mark the passage from one part of the garden to another.
A common design feature (prominent in many villa gardens) would be a stone entrance way with big wooden doors or gates leading to a bale with a thatch roof. If you have enough space a bale should be used as a focal point, preferably on a raised area or high point of the garden. In Bali, the word bale means ‘a place for relaxation’. The ijuk or black thatch used for the roof is made from the fibres on the trunk of the palm tree. These fibres are pulled out one by one and worked together to form a deep thatch that never rots. Use two stone lanterns at the entrance to your bale or at the entrance points to the garden. Stone lanterns are used as an artistic feature, whether they provide light or not. You can also use statues and sarongs or other fabric to decorate the bale. The use of ceremonial accessories such as umbul umbul (flags) and Balinese umbrellas are additional elements that you could add. Paths, pebbles and stones are another important aspect of the garden. Large cut rocks can be used as stepping stones or paths, whereas large rounded river stones can be used on the ground, as plant borders, or cemented into a stone wall feature, often with a statue or a water feature placed in the foreground. Slate and marble is also used in a similar fashion. Large pottery urns (earthenware) are also often used in empty corners of the garden to ‘fill out’ a space.
As you can see there are a lot of non-living elements to the Balinese garden, and they are probably more important than the living elements of the garden (the plants). The balance of a Balinese garden relies heavily on the plants fitting in with the decorative elements, and this is true landscape architecture. The types of statues, gates, paths, stone or wood is more important and has more effect than the types of plants that you use in creating that authentic feel of a Balinese style garden. Whilst the plants are important, they are really there to enhance the art (statues, carvings and other artifacts), the bale and the water features.
Traditional design is normally symmetrical (designed around a central axis), though a modern Balinese garden will contain more trees, shrubs, and vines than a traditional garden, possibly even having an overgrown appearance. The layout will have some symmetrical areas, though overall the garden is normally asymmetric in layout.
The indigenous plants of Bali have been mixed with introduced species for over 1,000 years. Plants are chosen to create a feeling of tranquility, and as such are modeled on typical rainforest plants. Use plants such as palms and ferns to create the authentic feel, and provide foliage full of greenery and lushness. Plants also help to create the architecture of the garden. Use plants with structural growth both vertical and horizontal, such as palms, bamboo, tree ferns, cycads, and aloe to create effect. Smaller plants with colourful foliage can be used to fill in any gaps and add interest. The use of varying heights of foliage gives depth to the garden, creates visual interest and also adds a serene rainforest effect. Plants can also have a practical purpose, helping to shade a pond or create a screen or divide different areas of the garden.
The key element is careful selection and placement of statues and water features in concert with a planting scheme that contrasts varying foliage types (shapes, textures and colours) intertwined with a few small shade trees (up to 4 metres tall). Another contrast technique is to plant separate clumps of small growing palms with different coloured trunks, such as the lipstick palm (palem merah) and the golden cane palm (palem kuning).
Flowering plants for a Balinese style garden include those such as adenium, heliconias, frangipani, hibiscus, lotus, lilies, bougainvillea, bromeliads, euphorbia, orchids, jasmine and champak (cempaka). Foliage plants for a Balinese garden are palms, cycads, birds-nest ferns, alocasia, philendendron, aglaonema, mango and ginger. Bamboo and ornamental grasses also look good if planted in clumps. A Balinese garden is more about landscape architecture and design rather than actual gardening, careful thought must go into the placement of all elements, and don’t forget that a Balinese style garden is a garden that must have spirit!
