`Feng Shui in the Garden'

Flower & Garden Magazine, March, 2000 by Paulette Cohn

Design your garden for health and happiness.

In gardening as in life, balance is key. Applying Feng Shui creates environments that are aligned with the supportive forces that exist in nature. Feng Shui literally translates as "Wind-Water," because Wind moves Chi (life force or vital energy) and Water both moves and retains Chi. Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese system which teaches man how to create harmony between the natural environment and man-made structures.

The arrival of the millennium has revived an interest in things that increase harmony, which no doubt accounts for the renewed interest in this ancient system. But the flexibility of Feng Shui is in large part responsible for its survival into the 21st century. Be your garden a riotous English delight or a more manicured Japanese style, a prickly desert cactus display or a practical vegetable Victory garden, the basic principals will still apply.

"Feng Shui is making the environment more supportive to you," states P.K. Odle, an instructor at the American Feng Shui Institute in Monterey Park, CA., and a consultant to residential and commercial clients. "If it is too shady and you trim your tree, that is good Feng Shui. If the bushes are growing over your walkway and you trim them back, that is good Feng Shui. If you have dead plants and you remove them or replace them, that is again good Feng Shui.

"The healthier the plants, the more the garden reflects the health of the environment; it is considered a good Feng Shui garden. If the garden is unkempt, unhealthy or dying, it is considered to be draining the energy. Your garden doesn't have to be a totally manicured garden; as a matter of fact, you can create a natural wilderness effect, but it is essential that it is healthy."

Enhanced prosperity, improved relationships and good health are the goals of Feng Shui, thus maximizing the supportive Chi in our environments. A reading of your house will let you know what remedies need to be taken to accentuate or balance the energy of your house. The sitting of the house and the year it was built determine the energetic pattern of the home. Outside remedies tend to always be the most important, and this makes our gardens essential to our well-being.

The natural elements--water, wood, fire, earth and metal--are the traditional remedies used in Feng Shui. It is best to use the actual element to create good Feng Shui whenever possible, with fire being the exception for obvious reasons. If it is not possible, color may be used as a substitute; for instance, blue and black substitute for water; green substitutes for wood; purple, burgundy, maroon, red, mauve and pink substitute for fire; yellow, brown, beige, tan, sand and clay substitute for earth; and gold, silver, brass, bronze, copper and white substitute for metal.

"Without doing the energy reading, it is unwise for me to give advice on which color flowers to use to accent a house," explains Odle. "The colors you use in your garden are colors that make you feel good. Limit to two or three general colors that complement each other and choose flowers with which you resonate. You don't have to go out and get the colors of all five elements, because that is not the way things work.

"Some people get a Feng Shui book and say, `Five elements. I have to have some of each in every area of my garden.' In nature, there is nothing this perfect. If we humans try to make everything perfect, we are fighting a losing battle. Mother Earth's energy moves every year, so it would be very egotistical to think that we can control Mother Nature. We should work with it.

"There is no one right color for everybody," Odle continues. "It depends on the energy of the house. Keep in mind that aesthetically it is important to have a balance. If your garden is monotone, it won't be comfortable. If everything in your garden is one level, it would feel unnatural. Good Feng Shui is having different things set to bloom each season, so you always have beauty there. That is where the true Feng Shui of gardening comes in: You create the beauty within its natural environment, choose the right plants to bloom at the right times to keep the garden beautiful throughout the seasons, and allow it to happen; that way you never have a blank palette."

One of the main functions of a garden in Feng Shui is to diffuse the negative energy created by sharp edges directed at your house. This does not include plant leaves with sharp edges, as Mother Nature created leaves with sharp edges so water would run off of them. There is nothing that makes a plant with a curly leaf more auspicious than one with sharp leaves. The angles on which we are focusing are those that are man-made, such as the corner of a neighbor's house or the garage.

Since the entrance to your house is of prime concern in Feng Shui because it is the mouth of Chi, it is essential that the entry be clear to welcome the energy from outside. It is not necessary to paint your front door red to attract good energy. Too many angles pointing at your entryway contribute to an unwelcoming feeling. Therefore, if the angle of your neighbor's house or garage points at your front door, it is beneficial to block it with a shrub or tree. Since most people automatically put the remedies in the right place about 50% of the time by accident, there is a good chance that your neighbor will have already rectified the situation.