The Saigon house won 4 international awards thanks to the ‘tropical forest’
The house has an area of 252 m2, located in a new residential area, next to a park, covered with green
Not having to put a few pots of plants, as usual, many people are spending hundreds of millions of dong planting trees all over the house, turning their living space into a “tropical jungle” corner.
Every morning, the humidification system for the indoor garden of Mr. Phu Tue Tri, in Phan Rang – Thap Cham city, automatically sprays mist everywhere. Banana trees, white and pink anthuriums; betel leaves long and wide; the vines, to the ferns, the dragon’s nest… bathed in the mist and the morning sun, giving the feeling of being lost in a tropical forest.
“Since having a garden, I always take time to look at it every morning. The happiest time is when I discover a young leaf,” said Mr. Tri, a 35-year-old photographer.
As a lover of plants, Ah Tri has set foot in the mountains and forests in Vietnam and many parts of the world. Those moving legs had to stop in one place because of Covid-19. Earlier this year, he learned about the community that plays houseplants and quickly became “addicted”.
“Initially, I aimed for betel nut, which is a plant that everyone loves when it’s a new ornamental plant. When it is available, I know it also has yellow, white, mint… then lines like Philodendron, Caladium, Anthurium, Alocasia… So how much money I saved to get married, buy a car, build a house, I poured it all into the tree,” he said.
In June 2021, he decided to move from Ho Chi Minh City to his hometown Phan Rang – Thap Cham to settle down. In the renovated fourth-level house, he arranged a garden corner to focus on indoor plants. The number of trees he owns is currently uncountable. “It really did look like a forest,” said the Cham photographer.
Seen above, Dinh Han’s indoor garden, in Phan Rang city, feels like being lost in the jungle in fiction movies. The 170-square-meter space is covered with a few meters tall reed trees, densely leafy ornamental plants cover the cement wall, and the waterfall murmurs day and night, with the sound of birds chirping.
Dinh Han is a famous landscaper in Vietnam with a billion-dollar collection. When he built his house over a year ago, he decided to make a tropical jungle with his unique potted plants. The 29-year-old boy tinkered with ideas and built them for 8 months. The garden formed has “stunned” bonsai communities.
In Ho Chi Minh City, 37-year-old interior designer Will Tran even brought the forest into the bedroom. “I want to open my eyes every morning and see the tree,” he said.
In a bedroom of about 10 square meters, he arranged trees into two zones. The wall array on the head of the bed put the plants Platycerium, Philodendron in the form of vines to be able to absorb the afternoon sun. The area at the end of the bed focuses on Anthurium, Monsteria … and is arranged in a tiered layout so that the plants have enough space to grow. This area is a bit less sunny, so he added a light and a humidifier.
Mr. Will Tran said, many people wonder if he put a tree in his bedroom to cause suffocation when sleeping because normally trees will breathe at night (take in oxygen, release CO2). “When choosing plants for the bedroom, I use some plants that have reverse photosynthesis, ie absorb CO2, release oxygen at night, typically tiger tongue,” he explained. However, he also recommends that people choose a small tree, let the tree concentrate at least two meters away from the sleeping person’s head and open the window at night if it is cool, or uses an air conditioner to filter the air at night.
The movement to bring tropical forests into the home has appeared among young people in big cities for more than a year. “The rainforest style simulates the layout and layers of the Amazon jungle and mixes many trees, including tall, mid-range, low-lying trees, creepers, shrubs, drooping trees; various types of forest ropes, seaweeds, etc. moss…”, said Mr. The Vuong, founder of a landscape construction unit in Ho Chi Minh City.
There are many different styles of indoor plants such as koi ponds, Japanese gardens, semi-terrain tanks… Despite its new appearance, the tropical forest style is popular with many people and accounts for about 20% of the work Mr. Vuong has done.
Of the dozens of tropical forests that have been built in the past year, Mr. Vuong has spent the most time on a project that is about to be completed on Kim Cuong Island, District 2. Looking at the photos and videos, everyone thinks this is a good cafe. office, but is actually a private house. The owner has made a forest 12 meters long, over 6 meters high in the corridors of his two apartments. The garden uses hundreds of different species of trees, with many layers, many layers, giving a deep feeling. The cost for the tree alone is several hundred million dongs.
Architect Nguyen Ba Thieu, Ho Chi Minh City, said that the rising real estate market makes owning an outdoor garden too much for many people. While because of the impact of the pandemic, people stay at home more, and care more about living space, so they have brought green areas into the house. On average, Mr. Thieu receives about 10 projects in the style of rainforest every year.
A tropical forest-style garden often uses ornamental plants , South American pineapples, combined with other types of moss, orchids, or ferns in Vietnam, which is also very beautiful and cost-effective.
“A garden of 20-30 m2, if using popular trees, it costs about 40 million VND, but if you use exotic plants, the cost will increase to infinity,” said Thieu.
Existing house designs tend to create a few green accents in the house, especially ornamental plants that do not need too much light, which will bring clean green space, purify the air, and decorate beautifully and luxuriously. for furniture. “This is and will be the trend of the future when people want to bring nature into the living space as much as possible,” said architect Thieu.
He added, that modern science has proven indoor plants are like natural air purifiers. During the day, trees produce additional oxygen and reduce toxic gases such as CO2, CO, and natural toxins such as benzene and formaldehyde… Some plants help us to reduce our exposure to electromagnetic radiation, even during the day. even in the bedroom.
As nature lovers, the reason why Mr. Tue Tri, Dinh Han, Tran Loi, and Phat Will make indoor forests is also because they use the same ornamental species – most of which are bred by humans. tissue culture in large numbers. For them, playing with ornamental plants is also a way to protect nature, to avoid exploitation and deforestation of some other ornamental plants.
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