 | You've probably heard designers on your favorite cable home decorating show speak about using the mysterious philosophy of feng shui to arrange your home furnishings and improve your life, but can you actually move it outdoors and apply feng shui to your landscape? You betcha! Whether you actually believe in the power of the ancient Asian art of feng shui or not, you can still employ it's basic design principals to achieve a beautiful landscape with balance and flow.
The whole premise of feng shui is based on achieving Chi, a positive energy flow throughout your living space in order to bring good fortune and health into your life. Chi is believed to affect every aspect of your world, including your finances, health, energy and even your love life. Conversely, failure to achieve Chi is believed to result in a downturn in your fortunes.
With all this in mind, let's take a look at the basic tenets of feng shui and how you can apply them to your own landscape in hopes of boosting the positive energy in your life.
Feng shui requires the use of three basic landscaping elements:
Before you get discouraged, you should know that you don't have to literally live in the Alps on the edge of scenic Lake Lucerne in order to meet these three feng shui requirements. Feng shui allows for as little as a basic representation of each element in order to harness the positive energy of the universe in your own back yard.
Let's begin with the water element. Water is believed to hold Chi, so it's essential to represent this vital element in your feng shui landscape design. Small ponds, garden fountains and water garden containers are all wonderful ways to incorporate water into your landscape, while providing great beauty and tranquility. However, stagnant water is believed to negatively affect the Chi flow, so the key is to keep things moving, and a small filter and pump will keep the water clean and clear.
Moving on to mountains. Chi is believed to pick up energy as it travels up and down hills, much like a roller coaster, so it is important that your landscape design incorporates some rises and falls to aid the energy flow. Raised flower beds are a marvelous way to represent the mountain element and are fairly easy to achieve without going to great expense.
Which leaves us with greenery, obviously the easiest element to achieve. Trees, shrubs, ornamental grasses and flowers all fill the feng shui bill. Trees and shrubs can also increase the height of your flower bed 'mountain element' and add even more energy to your Chi flow.
Now, let's talk about wealth, fame, and romance. Would you like to increase the level of all three in your life? Then try out these three feng shui design principals.
Wealth
Feng shui proponents believe the far left corner of your landscape represents your wealth center. To attract greater fortune into your life, try placing one of those raised flower beds in this area. A bold color scheme of reds and blues is also recommended to further increase your wealth factor.
Fame
Fame is synonymous with notoriety to some people, but in feng shui, fame also correlates directly to your reputation. If you'd like to invite fame through the doorway of your life, try adding an archway or arbor in the center of your landscape.
Romance
Romance is believed to reside in the far right corner of your landscape design, so if you want to cultivate love into your life, pay special attention to this area. Perhaps this is a good area to place that Chi holding water element, and give it a boost by planting flowers in romantic shades of red through white.
There are a couple of definite 'don'ts' in feng shui landscaping design. Avoid sharp corners and straight-a-ways on paths, beds or any other element of your outdoor feng shui design. Sharp corners and straight lines are believed to direct a tranquility disrupting energy flow at passers-by. Keeping your beds rounded and your pathways gently meandering will help to assure the proper Chi flow and energy levels.
Will a feng shui landscape design really bring wealth, fame and romance into your life? No one can make that guarantee, but if you wind up with a great new landscape that increases the value of your home, and brings you greater pleasure in your outdoor surroundings, then aren't you already enjoying the benefits of a feng shui landscape design?
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