A tropical plant collector's garden

Behind the large wooden doorway in an immense wall that faces the street in a small town in Mexico, on the Pacific coast, is this plant-curated courtyard surrounded by small buildings of various colors and styles. Each little building is either a bedroom, office, art studio, guest room or bath. The kitchen is a pavilion.

Building colors are a great foil
for the tropical plant colors.

The owners were away, but we got a sneak peek at their spectacular garden (never leave your keys with a gregarious & gracious brother that is proud of your achievements in designing and gardening).

The owners are collectors of plants and have spent a few years developing this courtyard garden which is really the foyer/hallway/dining room for the complex. Even though this is a seaside town, there is no view of the ocean from here, though it's only a five-mute walk away. With a garden like this and the sense of privacy the hacienda-style home provides, I'm not sure I'd miss the ocean view.

The colors of the buildings - red, blue, orange, yellow makes me want to paint each side of my house a different color. I have some of these same plants in my yard. Well, they're houseplants in my zone that I slowly kill throughout the winter and drag outside for fresh air during the summer. But they don't get to these gargantuan sizes.


I wish I had the space to design a compound of architecturally-interesting buildings, in challenging colors, and have to walk through my garden - complete with fountain and pool - every time I go from bedroom to bathroom, or office to kitchen. And I like the idea of having my 13-year-old daughter live in a separate building.