What better place to find pleasure than in a harmony garden. While a garden in harmony requires some order and regularity for balance, it also needs to contain some mystery and evoke emotion. Let the following tips help you develop your own harmony garden.
Inner Harmony
For a garden to be truly balanced, it must reflect the owner. Find your own inner harmony and let your garden allow you to become a part of the natural world around you. A true harmony garden embraces the larger scheme of the spiritual elements and draws the gardener in for peace and relaxation.
In order to discover your own inner harmony for your garden escape, start by evaluating your lifestyle. How much time do you want to spend in your yard? What outside activities bring you the most enjoyment? Is your garden urban or rural? This will help you to decide the style and type of garden that is your best fit.
Next consider your internal pleasure centers. What gives you the most peace? Is it the site of lush greens or colorful flowers, symmetry or wilderness, quiet or the sounds of nature? Use your own inner voice to create an external garden delight for all your pleasure senses.
Lastly, visit other gardens and take notes. What do you enjoy most about them? Are there ideas you can use in your own yard?
Harmony Garden Design
Now that you have some ideas of the perfect garden in your mind, start making it a reality. The first step is the entrance. Start at the spot where all visitors will enter your garden. Spruce it up just like you would the front door to your home.
Think of your yard as a scaled down estate. No matter how big or small, you can create a yard with an expansive feel. By employing balance, choose plants that fit the shape and size of your space. With so many dwarf plants and hybrids available, your options for creativity are not limited by size or space. Create unique spaces, garden rooms, and paths to guide visitors through the wilds of your garden. Pay the most attention to the parts of the garden you see most. For many, this will be the part of your yard closest to the house.
Let your garden hold some secrets. This personalizes the space and opens the door to mystery. Some gardeners use paths leading to a hidden nook or bench. Others tuck special plants inconspicuously in a corner, where they are left to be discovered by a careful eye. Find a couple of plant or garden treasures, either rare and valuable, or unique and special, and place them in focal spots in your yard.
With careful planning, a harmony garden will expand across all seasons. Accept the ebbs and flows, even death as it occurs in the garden. Let the seasons highlight their own unique beauty, and use plants that hold interest throughout the changes. Let in some human-made structures and garden art. Find pieces you truly love.
Incorporate all the aspects of natural beauty in your yard. Use the intrinsic harmony of weather, wildlife, plants and insects to create a garden that blends with the environment. Work with what your yard currently offers, instead of fighting it. Balance the old and the new. Hold on to some large specimen trees and still bring in fresh new annuals each spring.
Balance the diversity of plants. You will want to keep symmetry with plant groupings, but also allow for variety as well. Duplicate plants to create balance and harmonize colors, sizes, types, and leaf shapes. Also, allow for space in the garden. Plants that are too overgrown don't fit into the harmony garden design. Allow for a variety of light and dark, both with sunlight and shadow. Look for depth and don't simply stack rows of plants next to each other.
Delight all the senses in your harmony garden. Use water features for soothing sounds and fragrant plants to please your nose. Plant herbs and vegetables for tasty garden walks and encourage birds and butterflies. Have a soft place to rest your feet and sitting bones.
Planning
As you think through these ideas, start work on a site plan. A harmony garden flows much like a painting. Decide on a main focal point and a few sub-points. Use these to build an axis and design your balance around these footholds. Be creative, but also let logic guide you. Whether you are creating a brand new garden or revamping a historic one, a written plan is the key to harmony garden success.
Conclusion
Let your garden be an escape from the hectic outside world. A harmony garden is a perfect place for relaxation and mediation. Ultimately the final product will be different for different people, just don't forget to include a special spot to simply sit and enjoy the scenery.
