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Garden for Tranquility: Creating a Serene Landscape
A "zen garden" need not be a sandbox. Any garden that delivers peace and tranquility can offer you the same wonderful benefits that the traditional variety can.
Any garden space can be designed with an eye toward tranquility. Installing plantings and features can help transform any landscape into a garden sanctuary that oozes with Zen and abounds with quietude. Creating such a garden will certainly gratify the gardener, but will also benefit visitors who may find their stress melting away in the loveliness of a single water lily or a lavender field.
Many gardeners will tell you that privacy is an essential garden feature that is necessary to foster and air of peace and quiet. Depending on the setting, privacy features can be installed in both urban and suburban settings. Yet, even sprawling estates may want to incorporate private nooks and nestled spaces that can create a cozy atmosphere. Plantings are a natural way to achieve privacy measures. A pleached alcove or even a row of hedges can be installed to foster serenity.
Privacy can also be incorporated with features like pergolas, gazebos, and simple outbuildings. These features can be transformed into outdoor garden rooms. Training vines and climbing plants to cover the pergola is the perfect way to achieve a private setting for nearly any landscape that supports climbing plants. Similarly, gazebos and small shed-like tea rooms can also serve as private places to relax and enjoy the peaceful setting.
Water features can greatly contribute to a beautiful and serene landscape. Small cascades or even a wall-mounted fountain add to the natural charm of gardens. If your setting boasts a deck or patio, consider adding a nearby pond filled with Japanese Koi for visitors to enjoy. A simple stone bowl filled with water and a lotus can be an effective feature for the smallest of gardens. The sounds of water are lulling and will add to the tranquility of any setting.
Stone features may also help you to create a serene setting. Classical statues or even natural rocks provide a timeless sense of structure. Adding flagstone paths or a stone wall recall a gardening and design past that blends with natural landscape features like a field of wild flowers or an ornamental ground covering. A stone bridge across a rippling creek may be the perfect place to meditate. A stone bench placed beside a large tree is a great place to rest outdoors and enjoy the view. Even something as ordinary as a stone walkway will beckon visitors to stroll and lose their cares in garden's simple pleasures.
A careful selection of plantings can help you achieve a peaceful landscape. The growth of these plantings may encourage personal growth for all who use the garden as a sanctuary, a place to find calm and balance. When choosing plants, be sure to consider factors like bloom time, scent, and overall maintenance before planting. It also helps to install plantings that can provide interest throughout the year, even in winter. Choose fragrant plants with pleasing scents like lilacs and roses. Fill the vertical space with plants--climbing plants, trees, and shrubs--so that eyes have their fill of natural beauty.
Plants are like candy for the eyes, so be sure to incorporate a myriad of shapes, colors, and textures into the garden. Sections of single color plantings demand attention--a walkway lined with red California poppies will make you stop in your tracks. For small garden spaces, consider something less usual than a pot of petunias, for instance; opt for a contained bonsai tree or an arresting pitcher plant. Unusual plantings help to create landscape that is unique and personally reflects the gardener's sensibilities.
Be careful when choosing props for your tranquil garden. Large assortments of plastic props can detract from the natural beauty of the grounds. Instead of a stand of plastic birds, consider a small wooden bird house suspended from a low branch. Choose props that compliment the garden and call attention to the plants rather than to themselves. Small glass mushroom stakes might highlight a patch of phlox or set of wind chimes might call attention to a section of fragrant herbs.
Finally, when it comes to designing a peaceful landscape and garden, it may help to emulate other garden styles that are well-known places of tranquility. For example, Japanese tea gardens are designed to provide solace away from the busy world. You might want to incorporate some tea garden features into your own landscape. A less-manicured style that is equally lovely is a classic English cottage garden that offers beauty, serenity, and plantings that might require a little less tending than other types.
Like beauty, tranquility is subjective, but all of these elements can allow you to achieve some sense of peace and serenity in your garden space. Find out what most appeals to you and your family when it comes to tranquility. A garden swing, a hammock hidden behind hollyhocks, or a sheltering evergreen tree beside the patio--these features can simply transform property into something more meaningful and provide all who enjoy the space a feeling of peace and serenity.
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