Feng Shui Garden Design

We're pleased to present some of Danna Cain's Feng Shui Garden Design tips for you here. You might consider her suggestions when planning your own Feng Shui Garden.

Danna Cain, ASLA and Garden Design Expert, is co-owner of Home & Garden Design, Atlanta, Georgia. I've had the privilege of assisting Danna in a presentation on, Feng Shui in the Garden The link to Home & Garden Design's website is located on our Valuable Links page:

Individually, each evokes a feeling .......

• A favorite color will make you feel happy, welcome and comfortable
• A certain texture - such as a prickly Holly - might cause you pain
• Restful Shapes are usually mounding or draping - as with the Weeping Willow
• Erect, spiky Shapes can be energetic - The Foxglove - or disturbing - The Yucca

Collectively, they make a statement:

• A garden of all ONE color of flowers can be very dramatic - for example, an all White Garden
• A landscape of contrasting Shapes and Textures is the most interesting combination
• The plant arrangement makes the difference between a formal, semiformal or natural Garden

Harmonizing and Balancing Shapes, Textures and Colors is Key to good Feng Shui Garden Design

• Consider using some of the same colors in your Feng Shui Garden Design, both outdoors and inside of your home or office
• For example, use yellow Pansies at the front door and a pot of yellow Daffodils inside the foyer
• You might match your annual flower color to your wall colors
• Just remember that too much of a good thing looses it's effect, for example, use a slate (not brick) walkway to a brick house
• For Balance, include a little of all The 5 Elements - Metal, Water, Fire, Wood and Fire Elements

Feng Shui Garden Design using
The Feng Shui Five Elements

• Plant and Leaf Shapes: Triangular or Conical
• Color: Red
• Red Cutleaf Maple (Acer palmatum "atropurpureum"), Small tree, with a soft conical shape to 18 ft, red-purplish foliage, brilliant in Fall, part Sun to part Shade
• Crytomeria "Yoshino", a tall, green conifer to 40 ft., Coppery foliage in Winter. Great for creating privacy or screening a bad view. Full Sun
• Other plants with Triangular or Conical Shapes: Any topiary in this shape such as Boxwood, Hollies and Rosemary are ideal
• Other plants with Red Color: Coral Bark Maple (Sango-kaku) - Small tree with brilliant Coral bark on young branches
• More Red Colors: Nandinas - Small scrubs with red, orange or scarlet foliage in Winter. Sun or Shade
• Another Red Color: Camellia Sasanqua "Yuletide" - Shrub with fire-engine Red flowers in late fall. Part Sun to Shade
• Other ways to introduce The Fire Element into your outdoor setting: Outdoor grill, fireplace, firepit or chimenaea, votive candles along pathway, pets and wildlife

• Plant and Leaf Shapes: Asymmetrical, free form
• Color: Black and dark tones
• Black Elephant Ear (Colocasia "Jet Black Wonder" - Annual
• Blackie Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea batatas "Blackie") - Fast growing, rambling vine with deep purple foliage and pink flowers. Plant in Spring. This plant is especially wonderful trailing from a large pot
• Other plants with Asymmetrical, free form: Contorted Filbert
• Other plants with Black or dark tones: Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii "Purple Knight") - Large shrub with deep purple flowers. Sun
• Black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus nigrescens "Ebony Knight") - Ground cover, part Sun-Shade
• Purple Palace (Heuchera micrantha "Purple Palace") - Perennial, part to full Shade
• Other ways to introduce The Water Element into your outdoor setting: Include a pond, bird bath, decorative water sprinkler, swimming pool, mirror and crystals

• Plant and Leaf Shapes: Columnar, Long Thin Shapes
• Colors: Blues and Greens
• Arrow Bamboo (Pseudosasa Japonica) - Green to 18 ft. tall for part Sun to part Shade. Does great in a tub or pot! In the ground, it's not as invasive as others
• Iris - Louisianna & Siberian hybrids have long, thin leaves and blue-lavender flowers. Full Sun.
• Rosemary - Clipped into a columner shape. Silvery blue/green with blue flowers. Full Sun.
• Lungwort (Pulmonaria "Roy Davidson") - Ground cover with pretty blue flowers. Shade.
• Other ways to include The Wood Element in your outdoor landspacing - Wood decks and benches, trellis or planter box, mulched pathways. Wood carvings. Rattan furniture

• Plant and Leaf Shapes: Circular, Oval and Arched
• Colors: White and Pastels
• Hydrangea "Annabelle" - Medium shrub for Part Sun. Huge pure white flowers in ball shape
• Spirea Vanhouttei - Medium shrub for Part Sun. Small white flowers on arching shaped shrub
• Hosta "Patriot" or "White Christmas" - White and green oval foliage for the Shade
• White Gumpo Azaleas - Circular white flowers on low, oval shaped shrub. Part Shade
• Gardenia "August Beauty" - Oval shrub with circular white fragrant flowers. Sun
• Another plant with Circular, Oval and Arched shapes: - Eleagneus - Large shrub with silver arching limbs
• Other plants with white and pastel flowers:
• - Camellia Sasanqua "White doves" - Medium shrub for part Shade. White flowers in fall, Part Shade
• - Dogwood - Small tree with white flowers in Spring. Part Shade
• Other ways to include The Metal Element in your outdoor landspacing - Iron arbor, gate or bench. Copper birdbath, rusty iron birdhouse, bells, chimes and gongs. A metal sculpture, stone patio or boulders set in the landscape.

• Plant and Leaf Shapes: Square and Rectangular
• Colors: Yellows and Earthtones
• Plants with square and rectangular Shapes: Clipped Boxwood or Hollies
• Plants with Yellow or Earthtone Colors:
• - Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia Goldstrum) Perennial. Gold daisy-like flowers in late Summer
• - Aucuba Japonica - Medium size shrub for the Shade. Bold yellow and green foliage
• - Admiral Semmes Azalea - Lovely yellow decidious Azalea. Part Shade
• Coreopsis - Daisy-like perennials with yellow to gold flowers depending upon variety. Sun
• Ginkgo - Lovely tree with striking, brilliant yellow foliage in Fall
• Stella d'oro Daylilies - Repeat blooming Daylily. Flowers are golden yellow. Sun
• River Birch - Tree with Buff-colored peeling bark with yellow Fall foliage
• Miscanthus - Ornamental grasses that turn Beige in the Winter. Full Sun only
• Other ways to include The Earth Element in your outdoor landspacing - Pots/containers of terra cotta. Brick or tile paving

Thank you, Danna, for sharing your guidance on Feng Shui Garden Design with us. More about The Earth Element.......

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