Tropical garden

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I’ve just spent a week staying in a resort hotel at Da Nang, Vietnam. This sounds pretty luxurious. and the hotel was very pleasant, being the first one of its type on the splendid beach (the ‘China beach’ of R&R fame in the VN war) which is such a feature of an otherwise ordinary town. When it was built, a very good landscape designer was commissioned to design a tropical garden covering several acres. It is a model of its kind, and an outstanding feature of the hotel.

As these photos show, the hotel buildings are largely hidden from each other, and the view from the balcony of my room took in the so-called lagoon pool and the planting. and nothing else. Likewise, a walk along the artfully arranged paths was out of sight of most of the buildings so that you had the impression of being in a kind of tame jungle. (There is a team of gardeners, many of them women, who make sure that not a leaf or petal falls without its being swept up so that the place is, for a tropical garden, as neat as a pin.)

The planting had been arranged so as to contrast various forms and colours of foliage, starting with the coarse grass which is widely used for lawns in the tropics, and moving on to the shrubs and bushes. At intervals throughout the grounds were pots of orchids, while the bulk of the floral colour at this time of year was provided by the hibiscus.

I ran into the head gardener one morning, who told me that the flowers weren’t at their best (a typical gardener!) and that if I came in the spring, I would see a truly fine display. That may be so, but even now he and his team could be proud of the display they worked so hard to maintain. They are, of course, aided by the climate, and by the copious rain which. during the first few days of my stay drenched the place — and anyone unwise enough to try walking in this pocket paradise.

And why was I there? For work! And I didn’t have much time for walking in the garden, but every morning I did wak up to the view across the lagoon from my balcony, and once the weather improved, I took the garden route to and from the restaurant where breakfast was served before taking a taxi on the thrill a minute ride to and from the office. At the end of the day, a g&t on the balcony, overlooking this oasis of lush tranquility, was the perfect way to unwind.