have you looked at gardens in the Balinese/Thailand styles? I have seen some gardens in this vein that had minimalist elements but used tropical plants...

I think the way you can combine lushness and minimalism (I'm thinking more along modern lines than Japanese however) is to use lots of the same plant together in a large swath of color. Also plant smaller plants in front, larger plants in back. Think color - I have noticed modern garden design using chartreuse, purple etc. but on a large scale. Take only a few architectural type plants as focal points and plant smaller colorful plants around them.

Japanese gardens tend to be very structured and architectural, tropical gardens can be the same way, but you need to choose plants that function the same way. Bamboo is great to use, since you can use it in tropical or japanese gardens. Also I don't know where you live, but using succulents in combination can also give you the architectural look.

...websites or books with pictures of the Bali/Thai gardens?

thanks
tami

A few I found on Amazon -

Tropical Garden Design by Made Wijaya

Bali Modern: The Art of Tropical Living by Gianni Francione, et al

Balinese Gardens by Luca Invernizzi Tettoni (Photographer), William Warren (Photographer)

photos online

http://www.tropicalisland.de/DPS%20Bali%20Ubud%20Puri%20Lukisan%20Art%20Museum%20garden%20b.jpg

http://www.bali-paradise.com/nusaduabeachhotel/images/temple-garden-l.jpg

http://www.chocolaterecords.com/Bali44/BaliTripImages/Garden.jpg

http://www.baliheat.com/home/hotel/ubud/Pertiwi/imgs/garden.jpg

do an image search on google and type in Bali garden etc.

Thanks!

Already ordered Wijaya's book. I did a Google search, but your picture references are better than the ones I found, or maybe I just didn't type the right words ;-)

The current issue of Sunset magazine has an article with a Bali style garden