Sari's Farm: A Breath of Fresh Air

If the trick to living in Jakarta is getting out, then Sari’s Farm, a peaceful tropical garden near Bogor, makes an ideal escape. The 17-year project of magazine editor Sari Narulita, Sari’s Farm is a haven from the grime and grind of the city – and now it’s open for weddings, parties or a (romantic) weekend getaway. Imogen Badgery-Parker made the trip to get back to nature.


If it is indeed as the poets say and one’s garden reveals one’s character, then Sari Narulita is vibrant, charming, creative and pragmatic, and more than a little ambitious.

Her garden, Sari’s Farm, a hobby turned enterprise, is 7000 square meters of lawns, gazebos, fountains, fruit trees and a dazzling array of tropical flowers.

When Sari bought the block of land in 1991, it had nothing but thick tangles of bamboo, the only sign of civilization a one-room hut. With characteristic imagination, dedication and sheer will, she set about transforming the bamboo wasteland into a botanic wonderland.

“I was thinking, when I grow old one day – all my life I’ve been so busy – I was thinking, after all that, I can relax here,” she says. Then she adds, laughing, “To kill the time before the time kills me.”

It looks like time will just have to wait. Now in her 60s, Sari remains fresh and lively, trotting up and down the paths through the tiers of flowerbeds, introducing her flowers by name and often with an anecdote, as a mother might introduce her children. As she talks, she absently plucks dead leaves, tending to her plants with the ease of an experienced gardener.

At first she was no kind of gardener at all: she knew next to nothing about flowers and still less about landscaping. She confesses to having had no great plan in mind, simply putting plants where it felt right, and moving them when it didn’t.

The first step was to tear up the bamboo by the roots. Next, wide tiers were cut into the slope leading down to a small river, and turf laid across the soil. She planted fruit trees – durian, rambutan, guava, lime – as part of her original concept to make a connection between our food and its source.

But before long she had dedicated herself to collecting flowers: helliconias, gingers, calatheas, jasmine, gardenias, cordyline, dracaena ... the list goes on.

She read gardening books, studied pictures and hunted down the plants and seeds that attracted her. She admits that she, like many Indonesians, harbors a secret preference for “exotic” European flowers – roses and tulips. But ever pragmatic she embraced the tropical locals, delighting in their textures and curious shapes, giggling as she points out each flower’s likeness: the bee-hive, the feather duster, the rattlesnake, the long sharp “mother-in-law’s tongue” – and rows of ornamental pineapples glowing red in the sunlight.

On a quiet weekend, with no one around, a visit to Sari’s Farm is like stepping out of the world, standing still as the rush of time continues somewhere else. Although the garden is only a short drive from the main road connecting Jakarta and Bogor, the only sounds are the birds, the fountain and the rustle of leaves in the breeze.

There are any number of places throughout the grounds to soak up the peace: The shady terrace overlooking the trees and flowerbeds, where Sari treats her guests to breakfast and fresh homemade strawberry juice. Or the mosaic garden, a gazebo dripping with passionflower, whose colorful tiled floor Sari designed in memory of a friend. Or the traditional gazebo at the bottom of the garden, alongside a large pool and a fountain.

The size and design of Sari’s garden makes it adaptable, the wide array of potted plants creating mobile and natural decorations. The main lawn is “decorated” by white flowers, mostly varieties of jasmine, while up a few steps, under an archway that can be dressed for the occasion, a smaller lawn is done up in pink. In the evening, the tiers are alive with the lights of bamboo torches, and for those wanting to spend the night, the three-bedroom villa offers comfortable if simple rooms.

Already the garden is starting to strike a chord among couples, friends and companies looking for a fresher, natural alternative to luxury city hotels for their weddings, private parties or corporate functions.

Whatever the occasion, Sari’s Farm offers something elusive for those in the big bad city: a breath of fresh air, far from the madding crowd, with peace among the flowers. And perhaps a chance, if only for a day, to reconnect with nature.
After all, as Sari says, “If you take care of the flowers, they make you happy in return.”