Transform your garden into a feng shui sanctuary

The principles associated with feng shui date back to the ancient Chinese policy of organising buildings in a way that reflects harmony and balance. It has become popular in Western culture as a way to organise the home, get a better night’s sleep or produce a sense of calm. The same principles can also be applied to your garden and is worth a try if you’re trying to breathe new life into your outdoor space.

Below, you can find just some of the ways you can ‘feng shui’ your garden. We’re always trying to update our garden, so I will absolutely be applying some of these too.

Clear the space

There’s an idea in feng shui that stagnant energy needs to be cleared with certain objects or techniques. Whether you believe in this or not, you could still take inspiration from the idea to create a harmonious, peaceful garden.

Himalayan salt lamps are one popular means of space clearing. It’s also important to make sure that such items are genuine and of good quality to achieve the best effect. If, however, you can’t find one that can sit outdoors permanently, you could procure some solar-powered outdoor lights that will provide a similar effect and a calming energy.

Create a welcome entrance

In the same way that you want a room to look good when you first walk in, your garden should provide some sort of ‘wow’, whether you enter it from the house, down a side gate, or another way. It should be a welcoming space that encourages you to sit down and enjoy the peace.

You can create a welcoming entrance with a gateway or archway. Add some climbing roses or clematis, or even wisteria, and your garden will look stunning and inviting. You can paint the arch a bright, light colour such as white or pastel, or paint it black or grey for extra drama.

This technique is especially effective for front gardens because it gives guests an impression of friendliness and hospitality before they even get to the front door.

Enhance the back of your garden

The back of your garden is an area that can be forgotten about – you may not see it that often, or rarely go back there, so why bother? Well the back of the garden can represent the future and opportunities in feng shui, so you should make it a priority.

Place larger and more vibrant plants back here to encourage a sense of positive energy. Balance your garden with a healthy mix of plants and decorations.

Balance the elements

Gardens that nail feng shui typically have decor that mixes the traditional five elements: earth, wood, water, fire and metal.

Your garden will already have a lot of earth elements, thanks to the soil. You can add to ‘earth’ by adding things like clay plant pots. Wood elements also tend to be in gardens, in the plants, furniture, sheds, planters and more, so this may not be an area you need to worry about either.

You may think you have a lot of water elements in your garden, but actually, you may not have anything that properly contains water. You could add a bird bath, a pond or a water feature, all of which will encourage wildlife to the space as well.

You don’t want to use too much fire in your garden, but lanterns or a fire pit can be used to enhance the space.

Finally, metal can be encorporated via metal sculptures or chairs (with cushions!). Or use planters like these!

Pay attention to plant placement

Feng shui practices recommend that you give extra thought to where you place your plants. According to Bloomscape gardening expert Lindsay Pangborn, “plants have been proven to show increases in creativity, productivity and a positive outlook.” This means they’re the perfect ingredient to adorn the space inside and outside the home.

You can use a Bagua map to see which parts of the garden represent which aspects of life, according to feng shui. For example, the North represents your career or life path, while the East represents love. Place plants and decor in the appropriate colours associated with the energy you want to encourage in each facet of your life. To encourage energy for job-hunting, some people like to include a water element in the north of the garden.

Add focal points

Finally, you should add stucture to your garden with a focal point. It is believed that focal points in strategic locations help direct the flow of energy. Your garden’s focal points could be a tall tree, a creative water feature, or an especially bright plant.

Whether you want to go all out on feng shui or you just want to try something a little bit different, decorating using these principles can vastly improve your garden!