Extract from The Feng Shui Doctor by Paul Darby (£9.99, Duncan Baird Publishers)
Curves and colours
Originally, in ancient China, feng shui was used for choosing grave sites, crops and planting, and positioning homes. Therefore, gardens or back yards are important spaces in feng shui. Classical feng shui gardens are asymmetrical, and the centre (the tai chi) is left clear. However, you can have any style of garden - an English cottage garden, a Mediterranean-style garden, a formal courtyard, or a simple back yard with some pots - and still apply feng shui effectively.
Think of your garden as an extension of your house (within the same pa kua). By using feng shui, you can connect the energies of the indoors and the outdoors. The chi from your garden will flow through your house, complementing the energies within your home.
Laying out your garden
First, you need to set your intention for the garden: define who will be using it and what you want to use it for. Then decide on the mix of yin and yang energy you prefer. Different areas can be suitable for different purposes. The chi of a feng shui garden is usually yin: relaxing (sung chih) and stress-free. However, most gardens also have pockets where yang energy is more to the fore; these areas are better for socializing and family activities.
For paths and flowerbeds, meandering curves are better than straight lines. As well as being more pleasing to the eye, curves let chi circulate gently, without rushing through the garden and being wasted. They are also protective; Chinese tradition teaches that devils and evil spirits travel in straight lines and can't go around bends!
Protecting the garden
To get the most from your garden's energies, you need to make sure that plenty of good chi enters it from outside, and minimize the amount of harmful chi coming in. Look for any possible sources of problems, particularly 'poison arrows', which produce rushing chi that hits your home violently. If you have any of these problems, use plants or fencing to protect your home.
If you have problems with noise or disagreeable neighbours, you can protect your boundary with bamboo; Phyllostachys and/or Fargesia are the most beneficial and least invasive. Alternatively, you can use what the Chinese call the 'cannon mouth'. Lay some terracotta plant pots on their sides, fixed at an angle and with their mouths pointing at the problem, to bounce harmful chi back out of the garden.
If you want to be subtle about it, you can hide the pots with plants or a rockery. (An added benefit is that hedgehogs, which are traditionally seen as protective animals, like hiding in the pots.)
Doctor's orders
Problem: Your garden is overlooked by a 'poison arrow'.
Remedy: Plant hedges, bamboos or tall trees to screen you from the problem. At the edge of the garden you could add a hedge, or prickly plants such as holly, which act as 'protector warriors'. Another remedy is a wall or fence, but don't build it high or it can isolate your home from its surroundings.
Stirring the dragon's breath
Dragons, the most powerful and lucky animals in feng shui, symbolically live in rolling landscapes. It's a good idea, therefore, to create different ground levels in your garden, like the rounded hills of the dragon's home, to stimulate the 'dragon's breath' (sheng chi), or beneficial chi. Sunken areas, with seating and decorative plants, provide secluded, intimate spaces; they also, in effect, make fences higher and more protective.
Examples of beneficial raised areas include rockeries for alpine plants, and herb gardens near kitchens. Designs like these also fit the ancient Eastern principle that you should never be able to see a garden fully from one vantage point. Ideally, you should be able to journey through your garden, coming across areas with different atmospheres, and with lovely surprises such as sculptures, water features or flowering shrubs. Sunlight and shade can also help to create different moods and energies.
Balance and proportion
In a feng shui garden, 'less is more' (chiao te, chiao ta te). The garden should feel spacious and not at all overcrowded. The plants and other features should be in proportion to each other, and nothing should dominate or overwhelm the space. Always leave the centre of your garden clear, with no large plants, ornaments or sheds.
Whatever you plant or put into the garden should look natural, as though it has been there for a long time. To create extra interest and promote good chi, you need to include a variety of textures, heights and shapes. In feng shui, it's also good practice to place key shrubs, bushes and trees asymmetrically.
Filling in missing areas
If your house has 'missing areas' or is an 'L' shape, you can correct the problem by 'filling in' the areas, in a way that suits the
pa kua location, to include them in your garden.
One ideal way is to build a patio there, to give you an area for meals, activities and socializing. Patio doors are ideal for connecting the energy of your garden to that of your house.
You can also use trees and lights. For example, you could install bright lights in a patio in the south to enhance the fire energy there, or plant fairly tall trees behind the house to protect the back of your property. To complete the missing area and give it life, add lighting at the corner.
Friendly gates
At the front of the house, wide, 'friendly' gateways (men kou) are best. Ideally, you should have two gates, which open inward and are fairly low, to promote friendly, welcoming energy. The gates should be a suitable colour and material for the pa kua location.
Meandering paths
The drive or path should curve toward the house, to provide gently moving chi; straight paths let the chi flow too fast. The most auspicious route is from east to west, to follow the sun. Ideal surfaces depend on the pa kua location. However, avoid crazy paving - it shatters the chi.
Cover the edges of a straight path or crazy paving with low-growing plants such as creeping thymes or camomile, to balance the energies. Alternatively, put plants, in rounded pots that suit the pa kua location, on the edges of the path.
Water features
Ponds or fountains can provide strong, flowing chi as long as you locate them with care. Site ponds in dappled shade; avoid deep shade, which would make the water stagnant, or full sunlight, which would encourage weeds and algae.
It's especially good if the feature is visible from the living room, dining room or conservatory, to enhance their pleasant energy. Don't have it facing a kitchen or bathroom, or near a compost heap or septic tank, because it can boost bad energy from those areas. If you can't move a water feature, hide the 'bad' area with plants, a trellis or a rockery, as appropriate for the pa kua sector.
Auspicious water features
Pebble ponds or very small fountains have the best feng shui, because they mimic natural springs. Big fountains, on the other hand, are seen as unnatural and thus undesirable.
If you want to keep fish, the most auspicious types are goldfish (traditionally called 'baby dragons') or koi (which turn into 'dragons').
It's best to have nine fish - eight gold and one black - or multiples of nine. In a very small water feature, you could have three fish: two gold and one black.
Fences and decking
Curved shapes are best for fences and decking. Vertical fencing symbolizes upward growth and is preferable to horizontal slats (which represent 'strangle lines' constricting the chi). These structures are usually wooden; if they're in a pa kua sector that doesn't suit wood, paint or stain the wood to the right colour. If you have a fence, paint it to suit most or all of the sectors it occupies.
Working with elemental energies
To produce the correct blend of energies, you need to choose plants, ornaments and structures that suit the pa kua locations and work
well with each other. Barbecues work well in fire, earth or wood sectors. However, their fire energy will clash with metal and water sectors. You should also keep 'fiery' plants such as fuchsias out of these sectors.
Water features are best placed in the southeast, where they enhance 'richness of life'. The worst pa kua locations are south, northeast and southwest, because the energy in these sectors clashes with water. Wood suits most sectors, but avoid having wooden features such as decking in the southwest, where it will drain the earth energy there.
Earth symbols, such as large areas of stone, paving or gravel, work very well in earth and metal sectors, but try not to have them in the north (water), or the east or southeast (wood), because they will block the natural energies of those sectors.
Location, location, location
North: Greens or blues, dark blues or a little black (water), and whites, creams or greys (metal) work well here. A north garden is ideal for a water feature or a birdbath.
A good ornament would be a tortoise (symbolic animal of the north) or a 'protector-warrior' figure such as a samurai or Michelangelo's David. Make sure statues don't face a kitchen, bathroom or compost heap, because they can increase bad chi from those areas.
Northeast: The chi in the northeast supports spirituality, so this is a good site for a quiet area, or for martial arts, yoga or meditation. You can enhance the chi with lights, or a spiritual ornament such as a Buddha.
A northeast garden is ruled by earth, so is ideal for terracotta pots, pebbles, gravel, rockeries or even stone buildings. Herbs and alpines work well here; choose oranges and reds (fire), or pinks and yellows (earth). Metallic colours, as in golden and silver thymes, also fit well.
East: The east supports family, health, long life and ambition. Boost the wood energy with lots of green, some yellows, reds and purples, and a little blue. Bamboo, pines and yellow chrysanthemums promote longevity, and ornamental fruit trees bring in beneficial chi.
A garden in the east is ideal for decking, a trellis or a wooden sculpture (such as a crane or deer, symbols of longevity). You could also represent the dragon, symbolic animal of the east, with a small raised area or a dragon statue.
Southeast: The chi here promotes 'richness of life'. To enhance the wood energy, have lots of small, mainly evergreen shrubs, or a lawn. Greens, yellows and blues are excellent colours here. A water feature will bring good luck; fish ponds are particularly auspicious. Alternatively, you could just have a statue of a frog or a fish, or a collection of shells.
South: The south symbolizes sociability and communication, making it ideal for barbecues and parties. This sector should be well lit. Choose flowers and shrubs in bright reds, yellows, oranges and purples; fuchsias are excellent because they are fiery colours and look like little lanterns. Greens (wood) are also beneficial.
This is a good site for decking, paving or gravel. An ideal decoration would be a statue of a phoenix, rooster, parrot or pheasant - or even some real birds, such as peacocks.
Southwest: The southwest, symbolizing relationships and couples, is ideal for a hidden garden. Good colours are pink or yellow (earth), or touches of orange, red or purple (fire); silver or gold is also beneficial, because it blends earth and metal. Earth and gravel, and stone, terracotta or metal ornaments, work well.
Paired statues of lovers or birds are very good luck; traditional symbols are cranes, with one preening as the other stands guard, or mandarin ducks, believed to mate for life.
West: The west is the sector of children, new projects, problem-solving, pleasure, creativity and relaxation. Enhance its metal energy with whites, creams, greys, silvers and golds, and shiny, rounded metal ornaments.
In addition, you can blend metal with earth symbols such as pink or yellow flowers, stones, or terracotta pots. The west is the realm of the white tiger, whose unpredictable power has to be controlled; plant fragrant white, cream, pink or lavender flowers, to 'keep the tiger dozing'.
Northwest: The northwest is the zone of helpful people, networking and removal of obstacles. The colours used in the west would also be beneficial here. You can enhance the chi of a garden here with stone, gravel, rounded cobblestones, and metal or stone sculptures, especially of 'protector-warriors', as for the north.
Extract from The Feng Shui Doctor by Paul Darby, priced £9.99, published by Duncan Baird Publishers.