Colonial garden architecture with associated use of non-native plant species influences the identity of many tropical cities. In Indonesia, colonial planners argued for planting both native and non-native species. It remains unclear how far this suggestion was implemented in urban parks and if species proposed in colonial period still occur in the parks or got replaced by common non-native species, which are prevailing in other tropical cities. We first analyzed recommendations on the plant use in conceptual publications on the design of green structures in colonial Bandung. We then investigated species pools of planted woody species in differently aged parks in Bandung to test the hypothesis that remnants of historically recommended species are still present in the colonial parks. We anticipate that native species still exist in older parks while more recent parks show an increased percentage of non-native species that do not belong to the historical assemblages of woody species. The results show that species recommended in historical concepts occur more often in such parks created in colonial times, than in younger parks. Contrasting to other colonial cities, historical planting concepts for Bandung equally recommended native and non-native trees and a considerable number of species from local Javanese flora were proposed for city greening. However, in the recent species assemblages, non-native species clearly prevail (65%). It is thus challenging for the future development of the parks to raise awareness of the green colonial heritage and to strengthen the use of native species.