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| Mr. Loi using old bird nests for decoration, adding more vibrancy to his forest garden |
At the weekend, Mrs. Pham Phuong Trang (Hue City) and her friends visited Cui Coffee on Bui Thi Xuan St. After making orders for their drinks, they promenaded and enjoyed the poetic and shady scenery created by hundreds of green trees in the café’s space.
Mrs. Trang shared: “When I saw café’s photos posted on Facebook, I was so impressed by the lush greenery, which just looked like the forest by the A Nor waterfall (A Luoi district). Therefore, I invited my friends to come here to both relax and take photos to catch the beautiful moments in this scenery”.
In the past two years, urban forests have become a popular landscaping trend that many people love. Not only coffee shops but also many families with spacious yards are willing to spend money to create a stunning landscape filled with the lush greenery of forests and mountains right in their gardens.
Mr. Pham Loi (A Luoi), the owner of a business specializing in designing, constructing, and maintaining forest garden landscapes, said: “After the pandemic, many people have chosen to enhance their quality of life and enjoy a relaxing space right at home. Additionally, the busy pace of work and the pressures of daily life have made living more stressful. Therefore, a forest garden space with the presence of trees, stones, moss, and flowing water, accompanied by soothing sounds and colors, not only helps to “heal” but also brings the pristine beauty of nature closer to modern life. This is why, over the past two years, many clients have contacted me to create forest garden spaces for their homes”.
It’s not easy to bring a characteristic forest ecosystem to the city. In addition to requiring a certain understanding of the characteristics of each plant, landscape designers must harmoniously combine different layers of trees and distribute each type so that they can grow as stably as possible. Furthermore, the arrangement must create a reasonable landscape that is not cluttered or overlapping, while still maintaining a natural and aesthetically pleasing appearance.
Mr. Loi added: “Having grown up in the mountains and forests, I am very familiar with various types of large timber trees, ferns, tropical plants, and mosses. Typically, I divide the forest garden space into four different layers to create attractive depth and dimension in the landscape”.
The layers of the forest that Mr. Loi typically arranges include the upper layer of tall canopy trees, the second layer of medium-sized trees, the third layer of low-growing plants, and finally the surface layer. He explained: “The first layer usually has trees taller than 7 meters, the second and third layers have heights of 4 to 4.5 meters and 2 meters, respectively. The surface layer is typically below 0.5 meters. Each type of plant has its own requirements for temperature, light, environment, and humidity. For example, moss generally thrives in temperatures below 25 degrees Celsius, with an ideal humidity of 80%. To ensure moss can survive the harsh weather conditions in Hue, I must ensure that the area with moss meets at least 65% of these ideal conditions”.
Therefore, in addition to skillfully combining landscapes with climate-appropriate trees such as star fruit, longan, and lychee, Mr. Loi also maintains a suitable environment for healthy growth in the forest garden through methods like installing shade nets above, misting, and creating flowing streams to lower the temperature in the garden. Additionally, he uses natural materials such as wood, stone, gravel, and old bird nests to create a harmonious, natural, and picturesque atmosphere in the miniature forest.