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INTRODUCTION

"This country is very fertile and, without needing great labour for its cultivation, anything that one may plant flourishes."

Though some contemporary gardeners might question the lack of effort required, most would agree with Jesuit priest Nicholas Gervaise's 17th-century impression of Thailand's exceptional fertility. Its conditions vary widely, ranging from the cool northern highlands to the steamy jungles of the far south, but nearly all are conducive to rapid plant growth that comes as a revelation to anyone more accustomed to the seasonal pace of temperate countries. To early visitors, this was most evident in the rice fields, orchards, vegetable gardens and other clear signs of agricultural abundance which they saw throughout their travels.

Less well documented—indeed, hardly documented at all—are the uses made of this natural wealth for ornamental purposes. Granted, with certain reservations, that "anything that one may plant flourishes", what sort of noncommercial gardens were created in traditional Thailand? What specific trees and shrubs were used, how were they arranged, and was there anything distinctively Thai about such arrangements?

A stupa rises beside a lake with Water Lilies at Sukothai, the first capital of Thailand.

Two details from Thai murals showing traditional palace gardens. The one on left is from a painted wooden panel. Mango trees—fruiting and flowering—are depicted, with the fruits protected by bamboo baskets until ready to eat, as they still are in many gardens today. A more formal arrangement is shown in the one at Wat Mongkut in Bangkok (above). Here, a Lotus pond, surrounded by flowering trees and shrubs, acts as a focal point. In the upper left are some Toddy palms, which are still widely planted in Thailand.

The answers to these questions, especially the last one, are not easy. Details in mural paintings provide some information, as do the accounts of visitors like Gervaise. Few written Thai records, however, survived the devastating destruction of Ayutthaya, the old capital, in 1767; and by the time photography arrived, in the mid-19th century, Western and other influences had already begun to change both the concepts and the components of landscape design, along with so much else.

Eighteenth-century Europeans who saw Ayutthaya at its peak of power provide detailed descriptions of the city's architectural splendours and also of such exotic commercial plants as the Betel Nut palm, the Durian and the Mango. They are curiously reticent, though, about the gardens they must have passed through in the royal palace on their way to audiences with King Narai, and the scant information they offer about ornamental plants is both dubious and contradictory. Gervaise, for instance, claims that he saw "roses and carnations, and at all times tuberoses, the scent of which is sweeter than that of ours"; he also mentions Jasmine (both "double and single varieties"), something that is apparently a Gardenia, and "white, red, yellow, and variegated daisies". On the other hand, another early visitor who headed a French embassy to Ayutthaya in 1687 called Simon de la Loubere noted the Tuberoses but says he saw "no roses". He also makes no mention of either Daisies or Carnations (which, even today, are successfully grown only in the far north) and Jasmine he wrote was "so rare that 'tis said there are none but at the King's House". Fairly, but not very helpfully to anyone trying to reconstruct these ancient gardens, he observes that while there might be a lack of familiar European ornamentals, "they have others which are peculiar to them, and which are very agreeable for their beauty and odour", without specifying or describing any of them.

In any discussion of old Thai gardens, it is useful to keep in mind that there were three more or less distinct categories: those of Buddhist monasteries, of royal palaces, and those found around the homes of ordinary people. The plant materials used might overlap to some degree, but the purpose of each differed greatly.

A 17th-century temple at Petchaburi, south of Bangkok: The main building is surrounded by pots containing traditional clipped trees, or mai dat, while in the front is an old Plumeria, a flowering tree found in most temple gardens.

"The numerous courts of the temple open one out of another," wrote an English painter named P A Thompson, describing a Bangkok monastery in the early years of this century. "In some are the rows of small buildings where the monks dwell, each in his own room. Others are filled with leafy trees and artificial rocks and ponds...". Monastery gardens "were conceived as places to promote contemplation and peace of mind, achieved through planting mini-forests of often tall trees in courtyards or in the monks' residential section. Many of these were native flowering trees like Saraca, which has orange blossoms, while others could be used in traditional medicine; following its early introduction from the New World tropics some time in the 16th or 17th centuries, the Plumeria became a common monastery tree, as its fragrant, five-petaled flowers were popular as offerings.

Some temple-garden components were included because of their special significance in Buddhism. Thus most large compounds, then as now, contained at least one Ficus religiosa, or Bodhi tree, under which the Buddha attained enlightenment, as well as a pond or water jars devoted to Nelumbo nucifera, the sacred Lotus, prized as a symbol of perfection by several religions.

Palace gardens, on the other hand, seem to have drawn most of their visual inspiration from Chinese models, perhaps through reports brought back by travellers, or maybe through ancestral memory and tradition. The qualification "seem" is advisable, since except for idealized depictions in old mural paintings, none of the gardens remain. The closest modern equivalent, in Bangkok's Grand Palace compound, has been re-landscaped countless times since its inception, and perhaps the only contemporary features that would be recognizable to the original builders are the trees trained and clipped into odd shapes, a distinctly Chinese horticultural passion.

These clipped trees are what most Thais turn to when they want to add a touch of "traditional" to contemporary gardens. The art of making them is called mai dat. In the 1920s Prince Damrong Rachanuphab, known as the Father of Thai History, noted that it was practised in the 13th and 14th centuries in Sukhothai, the country's first independent capital. A number of different plants are used, both trees and shrubs, the most common being Diospyros rhodocalyx (tako in Thai), which has small, rough leaves; Streblus asper (khoi), the leaves of which are also used for making paper; Tamarind (ma-kham); and Wrightia religiosa (mok), a shrub with scented flowers.

Plumerias like the one seen near this group of religious monuments at Wat Raj Bophit in Bangkok were introduced to Southeast Asia from the New World tropics, probably by the Portuguese, but quickly adapted to local conditions.

Ficus religiosa, the Bodhi tree, under which the Buddha attained enlightenment, is regarded as sacred and therefore forbidden to other gardens. The tree can be seen in nearly every temple compound, often wrapped with a cloth to signify its holiness. The one shown here is at Bangkok's Wat Po.

Nine popular mai dat designs evolved during the Ayutthaya period, each usually consisting of an odd number of clipped leaf formations on branches emerging from the trunk. Though the results are often displayed in decorative pots like a Japanese bonsai, the two art forms are very different; whereas the bonsai (always potted) is a miniature tree that aims to replicate the original in shape, the mai dat, in a pot or as part of a landscape, is angular and abstract, and like traditional Thai floral arrangements amounts to a re-creation rather than an imitation of nature.

Another traditional feature—also of probable Chinese inspiration—that can still be seen in some gardens is the khao mor, an artificial mountain made of pebbles or larger stones cemented together to form a whole, often with waterfalls and pools and adorned with mai dat or ordinary plants. These may be miniature versions in shallow pots or sizeable creations incorporated into the garden design; a large one in the inner part of the Grand Palace was the site of several important ceremonies such as the cutting of the top-knot when children reached puberty.

A classic central-style Thai house. The art of clipping plants like the shrub on the right is known as mai dat; inspired by the Chinese, it is believed to date from the first Thai capital of Sukhothai.

A clipped tree at Bangkok's Grand Palace, perhaps the most authentic example of a classic Thai garden, originally built toward the end of the 18th century. A number of plants are trained in this way, the one here being Diospyros rhodocalyx, popularly known as the Siamese Rough Bush.

As in China, Thai palaces consisted of various enclosed sections, each serving a particular function. The outer areas were relatively bare of greenery, often paved with cobblestones and devoted to government offices and audience halls; the real gardens lay behind high walls, designed for the private pleasure of the King, his wives, and their attendants (which is perhaps why the French visitors quoted earlier never saw them).

Clipped mai dat specimens in the Wat Po enclosure.

An artificial mountain: such creations, called khao mor, were popular features in traditional Thai palace and temple gardens and ranged in size from small to quite large.

No record remains of the gardens in the royal palace of Ayutthaya, but they were probably similar to the early ones in the Bangkok palace which was in many respects a deliberate replica. Here the original plants are said to have included varieties chosen because of their fragrance, among them Michelia champaca alba (champi in Thai), a member of the Magnolia family; Jasmine (mali-dorn); Michelia elengi (pikul), the flowers of which were used to scent clothes and make potpourri; and Mammea siamensis (sarapee), an evergreen tree with white blooms. There were numerous ponds, planted with Water Lilies and Lotus, as well as khao mord to create an illusion of topography in an otherwise flat landscape. An illustration in a travel account by the Marquis of Beauvoir, who was received by King Mongkut in Bangkok in 1867, is captioned "Un arroyo a Bangkok" but is almost certainly taken from a photograph of one of the pools in the Grand Palace garden; among the prominent plants is what appears to be a wild Dracaena (chandhana), which produces sprays of fragrant flowers.

Prince Chula Chakrabongse notes in his history of the Chakri Dynasty that, in the early 19th century, King Rama II redesigned the original garden that had been planted by his father. He created one with "a large lake, lined with bricks, which had several islands, large and small, all connected together by charming little bridges of diverse designs. On some of the islands there were Chinese pagodas, on others little European pavilions, and the King took his meals or listened to music in these delightful buildings. There was boating on the lake, and sometimes evening parties were held when the Court went into fancy dress, and all the little canoes which were paddled around the islands had bright lamps of myriad hues." The description is strikingly similar to many written about the Imperial Palace in Beijing.

"Khun Chang Khun Pan", the narrative poem written by Thai poet Sunthorn Phu in the early 19th century, contains an episode in which Khun Pan slips into the house of his love, Nang Pirn. The author lists various potted plants on her verandah, which were no doubt typical of those to be seen in both palaces and aristocratic households of the time, among them Michelia champaca alba, a Dwarf Tamarind tree with its branches clipped into balls, Pandanus odoratissimus (lumchiek), Jasminium sambac (mali-sorn), Melodorum fruticosum (lamduan) and Sansevieria trlfasciata (ked).

Aesthetic considerations were secondary in the gardens of most ordinary homes. Here the emphasis was on practicality—plants that could be used for food, such as fruit trees, and a vast variety of culinary herbs, and others that yielded the ingredients for traditional medicines. The arrangement, more often than not, was haphazard, with little attention given to present-day concepts of landscape design.

An engraving of a pool in the Grand Palace garden in the mid-19th century, taken from a photograph and entitled "Un arroyo a Bangkok". The tall, palm-like plants are a wild Dracaena with fragrant flowers. This pool, part of a large artificial mountain, was used in a variety of royal ceremonies.

Superstition played (and to some extent continues to play) a significant role. A Star Gooseberry (Phyllanthus acidus; in Thai mayoni) is regarded as lucky when planted at the front of a house since its Thai name sounds like the word for "popularity". Almost any plant whose Thai name begins with the syllable ma is, in fact, considered auspicious: ma-krut (Kaffir Lime), mamuang (Mango), ma-fuang (Starfruit), makham (Tamarind) and ma-la-kaw (Papaya). The fact that they also produce fruit is perhaps not entirely coincidental. Other plants, however, without any practical use, are also looked upon as auspicious and often grown as much-prized potted specimens. Many of these are notable for their patterned leaves, like Codiaeum, Caladium, Dieffenbachia and Aglaonema, as well as almost anything with gold-coloured foliage.

Other plants were considered to be unlucky, at least in non-royal, non-religious compounds. Plumeria was one, since its Thai name, lan-tom, is similar to ran-tom, which means "heartbreak"; another was a kind of fern called prong, since that sounds like plong, meaning "to dispose of. M R Pimsai Amranand, an authority on Thai gardening, also lists others. She says that Bombax ceiba (ngiu), a native tree with red-orange flowers, was excluded because its soft wood is used in making coffins; Hibiscus because condemned criminals were once paraded through the streets with a red Hisbiscus flower behind their ears; and Clerodendrum fragrant (nang yaem) because older plants were supposed to turn into spirits. Modern gardeners appear to have overcome most of these prejudices, though many still refuse to include Plumerias in their landscape plan.

Khao Wang, "the Mountain Palace", built by King Rama IV in the mid-19th century atop a hill in Petchaburi and recently restored by the Fine Arts Department; the compounds include an observation tower for astronomical studies, the King's favourite pastime. Rarely seen in private gardens, Plumerias were often seen in royal and religious gardens.

A building in Khao Wang, showing one of the numerous old Plumeria trees which were planted along the road leading up to the palace.

M R Pimsai developed her love of gardening in England where she lived for much of her younger life, and was frankly horrified by most of the Thai gardens she saw on her return in the 1950s. Her first impression, she later wrote, was "of flat pieces of land with spindly fruit trees planted all along the fences, with herbs and flowers planted in ugly raised beds completely straight, looking vaguely like graves. Or sometimes one would be introduced to someone who was thought to be a great gardener, and on going to his house one would see no garden but a collection of Crotons, Gerbera or orchids, all grown in straight rows or in pots. The emphasis was on the plants, with little thought of how a garden should look. The word suan in Thai and translated as 'garden' conjures up in Thai minds a place the English would call an orchard or a market garden."

Soon after that was written the situation was to change dramatically. Such Western concepts of landscape design as lawns and massed beds became common, while to meet the growing demand for horticultural novelty both private collectors and nursery owners introduced countless new ornamental specimens from tropical places as distant as Hawaii and South America. The choice of Heliconias, for example, was limited to only a few varieties as recently as the 1970s; within a decade there were dozens, along with such related species as Alpinia and flowering Bananas. Moreover, Thai commercial growers became expert at developing new hybrids of Codiaeum, Aglaonema, Dieffenbachia, Cordylines and others, often assigning them impressive names to increase their desirability (and, inevitably, their prices).

Thai garden styles today reflect as wide a variety of tastes as can be found anywhere in the tropics. Some show a continuing fondness for the neatly clipped shrubs of old palace arrangements, though the plants used are more likely to be flowering species like Bougainvillea and Lantana than the less colourful traditional ones. Others are what M R Pimsai calls "status gardens": "Their trees are usually slow-growing imported palms or conifers. The flower beds, and beds of roses and annuals, all show only too well the army of gardeners they must have to keep the places in such perfect condition." Another characteristic of such landscapes is a penchant for abstract designs largely created by beds of plants with coloured foliage, requiring constant maintenance for its effect. In the cooler north, one sees gardens that in both design and plant materials are scarcely distinguishable from those in an English village.

Colonade at the hilltop palace in Petchaburi; pots of Bougainvillea line the wall and, behind them, some of the original Plumeria trees, now more than a century old.

Increasingly, however, more imaginative designers are emphasizing the country's tropical luxuriance, creating mini-jungles that blend native and imported plants in an artfully natural way. In doing so, they have been responsible for some of the finest of tropical gardens—not, perhaps, specifically "Thai", but nonetheless making full use of the country's fabled fertility.

Jasminum rex, a climber with unscented flowers.

Artabotrys hexapetalus, strongly scented at night.

Cananga odorata, the flowers of which are used to scent cloth.

A cultivar of Plumeria rubra—the flowers may be many different colours.

Phyllanthus acidus, the Star Gooseberry traditionally planted near the gate of a house.

Michelia champaca alba, the very fragrant white-flowering Champaca.

Cassia fistula, popularly known as the Golden Shower tree or the Indian Laburnum and designated as Thailand's national tree. Its cascades of bright yellow are a prominent feature of Thai gardens and roadways during the hot season.