infuse your spirit ~ feng shui your life with jayme barrett

To design a garden with good feng shui, consider the outdoor area in the same way you look at rooms inside your home. You’ll want a variety of areas for different activities. A properly-designed back and side yard can offer places to socialize and entertain friends, play with kids and dogs, swim with family, and cook with your partner. You also may want a special spot to grow veggies, take a restorative nap or work quietly by yourself.  Weekly gardening will reduce stress, uplift your spirit and connect you the earth.

Balancing yin and yang elements create a positive flow of energy.  To increase harmony, incorporate areas of movement and stillness, darkness and light, sun and shadow, water and earth, wood and stone. For example, a flowing water fountain with a birdbath creates movement in the sun for a yang effect.  A yin effect might be a secluded shaded location under a tree with a daybed offering quiet for a leisurely rest.

Varying the elevations in a garden encourages gentle energy movement. Interspersing tall trees, mid-size bushes, flowering plants, grasses and groundcover offer a nice balance. To lift energy in a garden, add lights or candles to a garden post, pergola or in lanterns hanging from a tree. Water elements in the form of water fountains, streams, and koi ponds are one of the best ways to increase prosperity energy.

There are different shapes to consider as your feng shui your garden. Plants and trees that are upright, bushy, grassy and flowering work well. Avoid plants with spiky leaves or thorns including cactus, snake plants, drooping plants with downward-falling leaves, and roses with sharp thorns. Good feng shui flora and fauna include rounded leaved plants, corrugated green plants and flowering plants such as Azaleas, Calla-Lillys, Camillas, Snap Dragons, Lavender, Garden roses (without thorns), Gerber Daisies, Sunflowers and rounded succulents.

In addition, consider creating outdoor rooms to extend your living space and provide opportunities for connecting with family and friends. Patios and decks give you a defined area to decorate with tables, chairs, potted plants, barbeques, swings or hammocks. Brick patios with a fireplace or fire pit will provide warmth during the colder months.

You can design your own outdoor room with a little ingenuity. To define an area, install a flowering pergola, a row of fruit trees, plants in terra-cotta and ceramic pots, an all-weather rug, or an L-shaped sofa with an umbrella. Tall flameless candles placed on the ground, white globe lights strung between two trees or a chandelier hanging from an arbor will stimulate the energy in your outdoor room.

Using furniture made from wood, wicker, rattan and teak will ground the space. Weather resistant upholstery for sofas, pillows, table cloths and outdoor drapery allow you to bring colors, textures and nature designs for embellishment. Hanging planters with herbs such as rosemary, mint, thyme, dill, cilantro and lavender provide a delightful aroma and are a perfect complement for outdoor cooking.