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Background and History

    Feng Shui is the art of living in harmony with the earth. (Webster, 1) This type of garden dates back 5,000 years and for the first 2,500 years, feng shui was concerned with the geography of landscape. The Chinese people believed that wherever they built their homes, if it was positioned right then this meant that good things would happen. If the Chinese put their house in the wrong place they believed that life would be nothing but a struggle. The position that the Chinese found to be right was a house facing the south with a hill behind it. This was simply to protect the house from storms or winds that came from the north.
     There are a few things about feng shui that are needed for a feng shui garden. Ch’i is one of the most important features in the feng shui garden. This means to have life force in the garden. There are three elements that are needed for Ch’i to be complete: mountains, water, and greenery. The hill behind the house is used as the mountain, having a stream or waterfall would be great for the water and plenty of plants are great for the greenery. Using Ch’i in your garden will make you feel relaxation and pleasure. Ch’i is recommended for the entrance of the house as well as the backyard. If no hills are around then the use of rocks piled up is another way to get the mountain feeling. The entrance is also known as the mouth of the house.
     Yin and Yang is the next thing that a feng shui garden should have. Yin and Yang was explained as being balanced. Here are a few examples that you cannot have one without the other. Yin and Yang is known as opposites such as: black and white, front and back, night and day, tall and short. In having Yin and Yang it simply explains that there could be no night with out day and there could be no tall without short. This is the symbol for Yin and Yang.

“This symbolizes the universe. Inside this symbol the tadpole is black(yin),with a small dot of white(yang), the other is white(yang) with a small dot of black inside of it. This symbol seems very confusing, but as you can see as yin increases yang decreases and as yang increases yin decreases.”(Webster 5)

Shars is the next thing dealing with feng shui. The ancient Chinese believed that ghosts could travel only in straight lines. (Webster,5) This seems weird to Westerners but when people built bridges zigzag this was the reason. This prevents ghosts from crossing the bridge. Shars are any straight line or angles that are pointed directly toward your home. If you have a sidewalk pointed directly to your front door from the road this is very bad; you have just welcomed ghosts or evils in your home. Feng Shui has remedies to fix shars, yin and yang, and weird looking lots that are unattractive to your home. Shars are only there if you can see them, for example if you have trees in front of your house by the road parallel to the road then shars do not exist. If the trees do not exist then you can see the road and shars do exist.
A Pa~kua mirror is a small circular mirror in the middle of an octagon shaped piece of wood. As shown below eight triagrams are carved in the wood.

This mirror is put up on the outside of your front door to scare away any evil or bad spells. Trees and plants are also a very important way to conceal shars. This protects the front or mouth of your home.

Water is also essential to ensure wealth and prosperity. The water however must be kept clean and smells fresh. Bad smells cause bad ch’i, kidney shaped pools embrace the house and are a great thing to have. However if the kidney shaped pool is placed oppositely of the house then this creates negative ch’i.
Lights are very important and are used as remedies for l-shaped lots. By placing two lights at each of the front corners and one light in the middle of the back of the lot you can change the appearance of the lot. If you have a narrow driveway by adding lights on both sides of the drive you are welcoming ch’i into your home. If you did not add the lights then ch’i is reflected. Sound and movement are encouraged in feng shui. Sound creates pleasing music such as wind chimes, place the wind chimes were you could hear as well as see them. The water fountains also create sound and movement to the garden. The water makes a sound that is very pleasing when you are relaxing in the garden. Movement can be used indoors as well as outdoors. Mobiles are an example of the movement that could be used in feng shui.
There are five elements that the Chinese believed that everything in the universe was composed of, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. (Webster,15) Usually the year of which you were born determines which element you are. I am fire and I was born in the year 1977, and my boyfriend is wood, he was born in 1975. As shown in the two pictures below there is a destructive cycle and a positive cycle. If you are a certain element and your significant other is another element then you would want to put another element in your garden that is between the two elements. For example I am fire and my boyfriend is wood, so in my garden I would want to add water features or a stream somewhere in my garden.

Another section that I feel is very important is the place for the children. This may seem unusual but the children need a place to go to as well. Trees should be added to add sheltered areas for the children to go to. This also helps in cutting down the wind, and it welcomes ch’i. The west is the best place to put the children’s garden because it is the heavily wooded section of the garden. The children’s garden should be well constructed so the children can play around water. The water should be kept at a low level because the children will want to jump into it. A clubhouse may be built out of arches and posts creating a calm area for them to play. A sandbox may also be added underneath a tree so the wind is not strong and the area is calming.
The eight Pah Kwa Areas include Fame, Health and Happiness, Pleasure and Indulgence, New Beginnings, Relationship, Children and Family, Wisdom and Experience, and Wealth. These eight areas were mentioned in the book Feng Shui in your Garden: How to create Harmony in Your Garden, By Roni Jay. Fame is known as the entrance in the south of the garden, campfires can be held here. Health and happiness is the pool area, containing “An arched bridge crosses the stream where it joins the lake, symbolizing the fact that good health and happiness should bridge every aspect of life.”(Jay,96) The pleasure and indulgence section should include a tree house. New beginnings represents streams were the children could play. Relationships include the open area of the garden. This section is for games such as baseball, football and so on. Children and family is the section that every little girl dreams of. The time to play house in a playhouse with a separate garden for the little girls. Wisdom and experience is the section that has a circle garden and each child has a section of that circle to plant what they want to. And the Wealth section has a huge fish made out to be a tunnel. You can use your imagination to build it and it represents wealth.