Gardens are meant to be places of great beauty and tranquility. They should provide the onlooker with a sense of peace and balance that is hard to find anywhere else. Think of them as an oasis in the desert of the day-to-day rat race we go through every day. The Chinese have long believed that this harmony and balance can be achieved via the artful arrangement of objects. This practice be applied to your home as well as your garden. But just what is feng shui gardening?

What Is Feng Shui Gardening

Feng shui is the ancient Chinese art of arranging furniture and objects within a house so that chi energy (or life energy) can flow more easily, thus creating balance and harmony within the home, and filling it with positive energy. Feng shui gardening follows the same principle and uses the ancient art to achieve a sense of tranquility in the garden.

Followers of feng shui believe that if you’re home is out of balance, this will affect your entire life. Everything from your work, to your emotional well-being, to your personal relationships will be off kilter. By applying the principles of feng shui, you can bring all of these elements back into harmony, and thus make not only your home more inviting, but also making your life that much smoother.

In feng shui gardening, the entrance to the garden is ideally located to the south. This direction also means that your garden will get the maximum exposure to the sun. Using a gate on the entrance is not recommended as well, as this can affect the flow of energy, and also block light from getting to your plants. Many feng shui gardeners suggest using an arbor instead, as this is more open and creates a more inviting entrance to both people and energy.

The types of plants used in feng shui gardening are unimportant. What is important are the colors of the flowers you intend to use. Colors have a very strong impact on energy levels. Using warm colors like reds and yellows have an uplifting effect, whereas cooler colors like purple and white have a more soothing effect on onlookers.

Balance and diversity is also very important in feng shui gardening. Use a wide variety of plants in your garden, but do not over crowd them. Clutter is extremely inhibiting to the flow of positive energy, and tends to make a garden feel like more of a jungle than an inviting oasis.

Whatever plants you choose to include in your garden, feng shui gardening dictates that all five elements be represented. This means including other things such as decorations. The five elements -- water, wood, fire, earth, and metal – can be represented by water features, benches, lights, clay pots and rocks, and wind chimes respectively, just to name a few.