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
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How to Make a Beautiful Feng Shui Garden Design
Color, Texture and Shape are the most powerful visual images in your Feng Shui Garden landscape
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
"Earth laughs in flowers" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Feng Shui Garden Design using The Feng Shui Five Elements
The Fire Element
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
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
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
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.
Using Feng Shui for your living garden creates an outdoor space
in harmony with nature where you can relax and enjoy the beneficial
flow of energy you've helped to create. You may not see the point at all,
or believe any of this, but why not give it a try. It is still just a garden
after all and the results might surprise you. While your plants are growing,
something else will also happen in your life, something that will surprise
you beyond bounds, the energy of life will follow you around and bring
magic in your life.