Challenge of resort garden

Samuela (Samu) Naboutini, landscaper and head gardener at Paradise Cove Resort in Fiji's Yasawa...
Samuela (Samu) Naboutini, landscaper and head gardener at Paradise Cove Resort in Fiji's Yasawa Islands. Photos by Gillian Vine.
Coconut palms and pandanus were among the trees that were retained when the resort was built.
Coconut palms and pandanus were among the trees that were retained when the resort was built.
An unusual form of hibiscus at Paradise Cove Resort.
An unusual form of hibiscus at Paradise Cove Resort.
Plants are a feature in the villas' shower areas.
Plants are a feature in the villas' shower areas.
Samu Naboutini is responsible for landscaping around new villas like this.
Samu Naboutini is responsible for landscaping around new villas like this.
Noni (Morinda citrifolia) is a small tree whose fruit is used medicinally.
Noni (Morinda citrifolia) is a small tree whose fruit is used medicinally.
New plants like this silver mondo grass are protected by coconut husks.
New plants like this silver mondo grass are protected by coconut husks.

There's more to hotel or resort gardens than meets the eye, Gillian Vine discovers.

The challenge of landscaping hotel or resort gardens is the same worldwide: finding plants that have overlapping flowering periods to give continuous colour and which thrive in the particular area.

It's exactly the same for Samuela (Samu) Naboutini, landscaper and head gardener at Paradise Cove Resort in Fiji's Yasawa Islands.

After 12 years at Turtle Island Resort and a stint at Blue Lagoon Resort, properties owned by the same New Zealand group as Paradise Cove, Samu had wide experience of gardening in the Yasawas, his home region.

As a result, his local knowledge and professional expertise made him the obvious choice to landscape the new property.

Paradise Cove is on Naukacuvu Island which, typical of this part of Fiji, has hot (28degC-30degC), dry winters, making May-September popular with New Zealand visitors.

Most rain falls in summer, especially from January to March, when temperatures are higher and humidity soars.

When Samu arrived in 2012 before building started, he faced not only the challenging two-season weather pattern but what to plant for maximum impact.

The resort, which opened two years ago, was built on the site of a former coconut plantation and other than a couple of mango and jackfruit trees, and a handful of native plants, ''it was just coconuts, nothing else'', Samu says.

Deciding what to retain as a framework for the new buildings was the priority.

''Part of my job was to say, `Pull out this, don't pull out that','' he explains.

''I then did the landscaping.''

Initially, many plants were brought in from Fiji's main island, Viti Levu, but now numerous cuttings are taken from favourite varieties, especially those with strongly coloured foliage or resistance to salt-laden breezes.

''On this island, the problem for plants is the wind,'' Samu says.

''Most smaller palms don't like salty wind but Fiji fan palms [Pritchardia pacifica] succeed here,'' he says, adding that a trial of golden palms proved them to be unsuitable for the island.

''It was just too salty for them.''

On the other hand, the pandanus and buabua (Fagraea fragrans) trees on the beach grow happily with little attention, while around the resort buildings, the likes of hibiscus and oleander ''do very well'', white-flowered frangipani is considered lucky and bougainvillea flourishes.

The lumpy fruit of noni (Morinda citrifolia) catches the eye and Samu explains that the juice is used throughout the Pacific to cure almost every illness.

Beneath the taller shrubs are tightly packed beds with plants such as jungle flame (Ixora coccinea) with scarlet, pink, yellow and white flowers; bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae); monkey's tail (Acalpha); and purple-flowered Nancy flower, possibly Thunbergia erecta, which blooms all year round.

The close planting helps moisture retention, while variegated plants, such as red cordylines, give additional colour, as does the silver mondo grass used as edging.

Passionfruit on a trellis, mangos and coconuts from the old trees are used in the resort's kitchens but jackfruit, being less to visitors' taste, is given to staff, most of whom live in a village on a nearby island.

Although there is ongoing maintenance for his team of 10 so everything is up to the standard visitors take for granted, the busiest period is the wet season, Samu explains.

That is when manure and urea are applied to beds, additional plants propagated and new planting undertaken.

Recent work involved landscaping around new villas at Paradise Cove.

Once again, decisions on what to retain among existing trees has been one of Samu's responsibilities, so a venerable ironwood (a Casuarina species) was a ''must stay'', then other plants chosen to fit around it.

This out-of-season creation meant new plants had to be watered in, then the roots protected with coconut husks, an unusual decorative mulch that is very effective.

At checkout time at Paradise Cove Resort, guests gather their belongings for the boat or float-plane trip back to Nadi and Samu's team pops in to refresh the plants in the open-air shower area of each villa.

The challenges of landscaping hotel or resort gardens may be almost the same worldwide but this aspect is uniquely tropical.

Add a Comment