Thai and Malaysian home garden

With the establishment of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which allows free movement of skilled-labour force in occupation including architecture services, designers need to be aware about thoughts and taste of foreign member states. The garden style, garden elements, and plant materials in Thailand and the Federation of Malaysia during 2000-2014 were compared to understand some basic information of home garden design. The research was conducted through analyzing a collection of pictures and information from popular home and garden magazines in each country, i.e., “Baan Lae Suan” in Thailand and “Impiana Magazine” in Malaysia. The result revealed that, during 2000-2014, Thailand had a broader variety of garden styles (18 styles) than Malaysia (11 styles). Modern-style garden was the most popular style in Thailand, whereas Balinese style was popular in Malaysia. Even though both countries have their own culture, traditions, and beliefs that affect their traditional garden designs, the impacts of those become less nowadays. Garden elements used in both countries were quite similar, which can be classified into two categories, function and aesthetics. While the favourite elements used in Thailand were loose pebble floors, fountains, and pools, in Malaysia, they were lightings, garden table sets, benches, and jars. Tropical plants were often used in both countries, particularly grasses Plumeria spp. and Asplenium nidus, which were the most popular used plants. The climate condition is different between the countries. Malaysia has a higher amount of rain and humidity. Thailand has a hot and dry period, which can explain why fountains and pools were used to help reduce heat and increase humidity more often in Thai gardens than in Malaysian gardens.