English owners instinctively applied landscape traditions based on the theories of the Picturesque Movement. Trees and shrubs were planted in random, isolated clumps between manicured lawns such as those shown in this photograph. The outgrowth of vines taking over the bungalow’s verandah reinforces the picturesque notion of untamed nature triumphing over man, an impression created with great care and careful planning. Tanglin’s undulating hillocks provided the perfect setting for such layouts. Such gardens presented an intriguing marriage of “lush profusion” and “hedges of wild heliotrope cropped as square as if built up of stone, and forming compact barriers of green leaves...”, as described by Scottish photographer John Thomson, whose writings about Singapore were published in 1875.
