‘’Well’’, I replied, ‘’I’m thinking of relocating back to the Gold Coast and ask people to invite me into their gardens’’. I explained a lot of us visit or use our gardens but don’t know how to connect with them emotionally or spiritually. I suggested we are moving away from the land (drift into the cities) and pressures of life forcing us to spend an increasing amount of time in the quest for money and maintaining jobs, family and the like. The garden once central to a family’s home now viewed as a feature, ornament, monument or symbol to bolt onto the home and our manufactured lifestyles.

‘’Not necessary so’’, he replied. ‘’My wife and myself get a fair bit out of our garden but I don’t know how to connect with it’’. ‘’It’s something there in the backyard we just spend time in’’.

‘’Do you have a seat in there?’’

‘’No, when I think about it, I haven’t’’.

I suggested that’s what I’d like to do after I relocate and not necessary go about placing seats in every garden (not a bad idea) but try to link people with their surroundings and in a way I’m practicing the art of connectiveness.

I mentioned, the garden has so much to offer when we view it through Feng Shui eyes and that of Chi. If we can balance a gardens Yin and Yang for example, it takes a more harmonious appeal. By recognising and moderating sha Chi influences and strengthening sheng Chi, the garden seems a more receptive and relaxing place. When we garden ‘’on the curve’’ and recognise the value of some Feng Shui, the garden becomes more alive, has mystery and diversity and is welcoming. I suggested to him, ‘’I want to marry you and your wife with your garden’’.

He replied after hitting his drive about 250 metres, (he plays off a handicap of three), ‘’I think you’ve got something there’’

So an opportunity arises and a direction away from all that writing stuff. I think it’s a matter of self confidence to go out there and convince people to see their gardens through different eyes. I can monitor responses through my website and test them with my writings. Basically putting the words into practice and if responses remain as they have been so far, my work has not been wasted and the art of connectiveness a reality for some. Hey, and people are getting away from that manufactured life we’re starting to lead. Good times are ahead.

I would describe the garden presently as Yin dominant expressed through the elements of Wood (plants) and Earth (mulch). I hold a trick card up my sleeve to alter its appearance and balance the Yin dominance through infusions of Yang. I propose to introduce elements of Fire and Metal with minor plantings of brightly foliaged plants such as Begonia and New Guinea Impatiens to deliberately infuse the garden with symbols of Yang displayed in the reds and whites of the foliage and flowers. In addition, I’ll install some ‘’embellishments’’ or symbolism to introduce the Metal element. Some figurines for example and a couple of Fudogs near the entry points.

I expect the garden to become visually attractive and encourage people to pause and look in while walking by. The notion of sustainability recognised by the heavy mulching, groupings of like plants, control and balance of light and shade movements, moderation of climate and allowing nature to take its course through natural insect and pest controls. The Australian Eastern Grey Kangaroo is plentiful and likely to keep any grass under control while fertilising it. More interesting is the balancing of Yin and Yang and Chi infusion which provides an environment for all within to be in harmony and balance.

It definitely is a garden on the curve and I’ve deliberately set it out to ensure not one straight line of vision or image is projected. So simple and effective, the Chi flow is uplifting to all who enter or view as they stroll along the roadway past the garden. This garden is catching eyes.

View from the veranda cannot be revisited until the two offending and sha Chi trees are removed by the park owners. Delays in their removal meant the rear garden and connection to Number 1 Lorikeet Lane have to be placed on hold until I return from visiting the three ‘’B’s’’ , Borneo, Burma (Myanmar)and Bali from mid October until late November 2010.

There was no specific determining as to what plant to use in each garden bed. I used what’s already there including Azalea, Hibiscus, a Kentia Palm, some tree ferns (Cyathea australis), a couple of Abelia and the odd straggler shrub. Some were relocated to suit the garden bed shape and the design criteria concentrating on curves and meandering of Chi flow throughout. I’m seeking Chi presence in the meandering image through lines of vision and personal movement, shape and colour balance and ensuring that important and overlooked factor of light and shadow balance is considered.

I’ve deliberately chosen not to install embellishments or whatever until I return and in doing so, the Chi energy of the garden is on hold but can be monitored and eventually expanded. Feng Shui (the art of placement) in this case waiting until the fabric of the garden is established and relying on garden bed placement (rather than individual plants) to maintain and invigorate Chi flow.

This technique in garden bed instalment suggests emphasis isn’t on right plant so much but the compositions of plants used in each garden bed installation. I sought balance in their individual shapes, texture, form and colour. Individual plants can be manipulated by pruning if necessary or removal if I get it wrong. I’d like to point out gardening on the curve suggests getting the structure of the garden in place rather than individual plant selection and placement. This allows more flexibility and mistakes to be glossed over as each plant develops and marries into its surroundings.

Noticeably (photographs) is the dramatic change in visual appearance and Chi flow now emerging as the bare dirt is transformed into a carpet of green, the Earth tones of energy dissipating as Wood emerges and the gentle sweeping curves of movement imaging that of Water. The elements of Fire and Metal to stimulate and balance Chi can wait until I return. This garden is on track to be a good one.

I’m back and on this visit to Number 3. I want to think about ideas for the framework of something different to those other gardens in the street. For this one, a garden on the curve is the quest. No straight lines or sharp edges at all. A garden where Yin and Yang are in balance, the elements of Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Earth balanced in their shapes and colours and sha Chi (inauspicious energy) recognised and tempered in its intrusion. This sounds good in theory but will it transpire in practice?

To get a feel of the gardens energy I view Number 3 from two locations. Firstly, the external views garnished from the roadway and an entry point leading from a carport. These form the arc of vision to the garden and introduce the gardens Chi which needs to be uplifting so the visitor is uplifted and intrigued by what lies inside. The entries create an apron for Chi to enter and it meandering along a curved pathway and in time grassed open spaces leading through the garden. I want Chi to meander to and energise an apron to a ramp leading onto the decking of the relocatable home.

The second viewing location is from the veranda itself, because the decking provides the place to live and enjoy the scenery and climate and hopefully absorbing Chi emulating from the gardens. I want a visual paradise of shapes and colour, charm and some mystery and a place to return to, sha Chi emulating from the tree and palm (now approved for removal) eventually diminished.

To date, the aspirations of Number 3 lie within ideas and the goodwill of the plants already present. Ironically, these plants remain healthy and create a sense of tranquillity and augers good for the garden.

There’s something in the idea of ‘’gardening on the curve’’. So simple, easy to design and implement. Just think about curves and Chi doing its thing and meandering, wandering through and around whatever we place within. Keep the garden healthy, balance its Yin and Yang, make sure no element (Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood) is dominating the others and ensure the gardens climate reflects its location for year round sun and shadow.

The garden on this visit would exhibit something more of the Earth element, home and bosom and base to build from. As the garden evolves, the Wood element will become involved, a Yin element and the two exhibiting something of growth and sustainability. In time I’ll need to introduce the elements of Fire and Metal to stimulate Chi and neutralise the energies of Wood and Earth. The fifth element, Water visualised and imaged through the gardens gentle curves and sweeping of the lawn areas, in all the five elements present and in balance and I’m sure the gardens Chi will be uplifting.

About four years ago in 2006 a unique Australian residential unit complex was proposed at Biggera Waters, Queensland. The development modelled on Feng Shui and becoming Australia’s first Feng Shui residential development based on Feng Shui principles, employing the expertise of a Feng Shui Master.

Selling of the idea to the general public was slow because people perceived the development as an Asian enclave and resisted the sales momentum. The project was remarketed as a “garden paradise” set around a central garden courtyard and each apartment responding to the auspicious Feng Shui potentially on offer, aspirations of health, happiness and prosperity but the vision coming off the rails in the form of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008.

The Harmony project work suspended as finance was withdrawn leaving some presales in doubt and the developer seeking a partner to revise the project. The project was stalled for about twelve months or so and accordingly, pre sales elapsed, costs escalated and design altered to enable construction to be completed.

This is where the disharmony comes to Harmony. Shortfalls of capital meant shortfalls in landscaping and tuning the Chi for its intended benefits. Shortcuts led to a visual paradise being suspended and it transformed into an ordinary landscape. Chi was unsettled and fleeting, and unit vacancies were too many after completion for the excitement of people mingling and connecting with the landscape. The landscape appears hastily constructed, mundane and sterile, Chi having no home here on completion.

But Chi will come to visit and reside at Harmony. The landscape still conforms to the ideal presented by the Feng Shui Master, conceptualised and imagined and to date elements present, but maturity and connection to them and each other still to come.

The sales staff presenting a grand vision and rightly so because they don’t see the place as disharmonious at all, just waiting for people, their interactions and the gardens evolving to transform Chi into something of a beneficial kind.

Maybe someone else in Australia or elsewhere will try to create the harmonious landscape built on classical Feng Shui. Whether its day will come lies ahead. Chi comes to us through our mind, it’s not something we create on a piece of paper. Sure we can balance a gardens Yin and Yang, five element balance, nullify the Sha Chi influences, infuse my eight elements and in doing so create a place of interest and excitement, mysterious and intrigue and maybe that’s where the Feng Shui landscape of the future will evolve into, an interactive, alive, responsive, functional and naturally sustainable landscape….and harmony coming along for the ride.

But I need to do an assessment and taking my trusty compass I notice an easterly to north easterly aspect falls into my arc of vision from the chair. It’s ideal for morning sun and cool on-shore breezes in summer. The relocatable home behind me shelters from the colder and gusty winds and a screen I want to locate along the southern boundary will shelter from undesirable views and blustery southerlies.

I’m not concerned about getting Yin and Yang imbalance or fine tuning Chi with five element balance although a dominance of the elements of wood and earth abound. My immediate concerns were ‘’poison arrows’’ or Sha Chi intrusions. These create disharmony from that chair on the veranda. I notice a garden shed in its Mission Brown has a profound effect on imagery and Chi flow. Beside it is an electrical sub box located on a stand and also painted in a Mission Brown. It needs to be relocated and that will become an expense. Adjoining the meter box are two trees, one a Cocos Palm and the other a Eucalyptus which has its head blown out from winds. Both are safety hazards and obtrude their Chi over the veranda.

Casting an eye across to the adjoining garden I notice a garden shed also intruding on its Chi and the relocatable itself is also a Sha Chi element. Gosh I notice a concrete drain extruding across a lawn area, a real poison arrow and finally, located along the southern boundary the relocatable and another garden shed.

My quest for harmony within the gardens of Number 3 will depend on the dismantling of the energies the Sha Chi intrusions present and these will be my principal tasks before locating gardens and finetuning beneficial Chi which I know will follow.

Before I leave the chair on the veranda of Number 3 I notice I can capture the Chi from the surroundings to the garden. Firstly I gaze down onto a tidal estuary which flows into the ocean and enjoy the life it produces. Behind the creek is a nine hole golf course and scenery of fairway, people and native wildlife including a mob of Grey Kangaroo. What a blessing to have such wonders built into the landscape and these are my treasures. I also notice my borrowed scenery includes the recently established gardens of Number 1 Lorikeet and I propose to marry these into the gardens of Number 3 to form a cohesive unit.

This is the backyard to a home Day Care Child Minding Centre. A suburban backyard located in the seaside suburb of Wynnum in Brisbane, Australia. Presently disjointed and its Chi fragmented, unharnessed and fractured by the needs of children and not the hopes and visions of its owner dreaming of something else.

Something else in the vision where Chi is abundant, welcome, excited and invigorated, clothed within the gardens mystery and complexity and diversity of uses, shapes and colours. Sounds like a tall order and so different from what we view today.

I viewed the garden from two perspectives. One, the owner, a lady who owns the home and child care centre, who lives alone and on her free time relaxes on the patio veranda looking over the garden and its profusion of child fun installations. Presently viewing nothing to encourage Harmony or Chi of the kind we seek to come and enliven her spirits. Sha or inauspicious Chi has taken home in the garden and doesn’t want to let go.

The second perspective is presented through the kiddies eyes themselves as they enter the space to play and have fun. Presently fashioned with a sandpit and a tucked away hidden area of heaped sand for their imagination to create something fantastical like a witches castle with bridge and moat built with sand and toys taking different forms in their minds.

H’mm, something here and the idea of a sensory garden comes into the mind. A garden for the kids to be created by different shapes and colours, smells, sounds, touches and feel of shrubs and things, exciting the mind and imagination. A sensory walk tucked away, a curved bike track and walkway of different textures and feels underfoot, an Alice in Wonderland hidden enclave for castles, moats and imaginary dragons, and a separate place somewhere for that child wanting to be on their own with thoughts and toys alongside a patch of lawn grass necessary for kiddies to run and play on.

Ok, so it has potential, I suggest it will evolve with some money, imagination, time and effort of a part-time handyman. I thought of ten things to stimulate the Chi we desire, at least a home for Chi of a beneficial kind, leaving Sha Chi to find the gate and leave this garden. I’ll ask the owner to invite me back in twelve months or so and her say your right, “Chi has come to visit my mysterious, sensory garden where the kids play”.

• Removal of unnecessary fencing and creating a kidney shaped piece of lawn

• Screening shedding, breaking the bareness with some Murraya pruned to 1 mt.

• A Buddha image set in one corner to offer serenity and reflection

• Terracotta pot with evergreen shrub to hide an ugly corner of some fencing

• Locating a Crepe Myrtle hybrid to offer shade, shape and colour diversity

• Definitely paint the garden shed and install a kiddie’s mural on one wall

• Tall pots either side of garden entry containing ornamental bamboo

• Creating an Alice in Wonderland styled entry to the hidden enclave

• Tidy up, diversity of colour, shapes, sounds, smells and movement

• Screening against the edges to some parts of the next-door backyard

I could add another four or five suggestions but the owner is aware of them and the spirit of Chi of this garden lies with her, her energy and imagination. The kiddies doing their own thing but they could be excited in the year to come.

Anyway, by May 2010 the garden of Number 3 had a new owner. A Harmonious Chi (Qi) Gardener who is there to re activate its Chi and change its life into something sensual, open, vibrant, warm and inviting. Firstly an assessment and basically a response -let’s get rid of it all and start again, but a compromise was on offer and the inevitable axe, hand saw and mattock took its toll on unwanted plants leaving something of its foundations through some trees and the odd strangling shrub.

My makeover for Number 3 seeks to integrate the garden of Number 1 and create a flowing style of garden extending the experiences on offer. But, some obstacles, firstly clearing excessive weed growth and dead or dying plants (that’s been done). Recognition a garden shed is very Yang and Sha and needs to be removed. A very large palm (Cocos Plumosa) is definitely a hazard (falling fronds) and not going any further until a viewing deck has been erected to replace the one festered with dry rot.

We’re underway and Number 3 waiting for a visit by Chi of a beneficial kind. But what about these assessments you keep talking about?  ‘’Ok, I’ll try something different and do a group of five for Number 3.”

Yin and Yang. That garden shed has to go along with the suppressing Cocos Palm and neighbour (a storm damaged Eucalyptus tree) which is in danger of falling down. The tree is Yang because it’s threatening. The oppressive vegetation has to be removed. It’s Yang because it takes on a hard, solid impregnable mass. I’ll then wait until I erect the decking to gaze down and around because it’s from the veranda and a trusty chair where the magic of the garden will arise.

Five Element Balance. The Feng Shui cure and diagnosis. Which element is overpowering? It’s the wood element and all that vegetation, so let’s remove its dominance and have a pause.

What’s Sha Chi doing in this garden? Concrete bricks scattered throughout, some neglected concrete slabs, broken wooden lattice fencing, a power supply box now protruding.

My 8 elements of Light, Shadow, Shape, Colour, Sound, Smell, Movement and Temperature (climatic influences on our personal comfort). I like the 8 test but too early to put it into play. I’ll save this one up to fine tune my beneficial Chi. Although I notice shadows are too long, too much shade, too much dominance of greens, stagnant movements, but encouraging sounds of birdlife.

Finally, can I make Number 3 a home for Chi test? This is a new one and will try it out as an evaluation tool at Number 3. Yes. I can visualise a home for my Chi and by drawing upon the other four tests mentioned to drive the reshaping of the garden for beneficial Chi flow. My Wondrous Little Character Called Chi waiting to visit Number 3 Lorikeet and so for now a wait and see, but hope and a method is opening up. On my second visit to Number 3, I’ll sit upon a chair on the veranda and revaluate the Chi.

But not so, when I returned to my old garden recently and saw its Chi was as strong as ever. Changes couldn’t disperse or fragment it, maybe the Chi harnessed and stored in the gardens extensive tree canopy alongside the many shrubs and grasses previously abundant and still supporting the tranquility and place of this garden landscape.

But what changes took place? Well, firstly seating was relocated; an aluminium colour bond clad screening fence erected and some pruning but no replacement of shrubs. The lawn areas had been re-laid with a shade tolerant Buffalo grass hybrid (probably Sir Walter) and the concrete brick pavers making up a veranda floor and pathways had been taken away and replaced with sandstone slabs, patterned and ancient.

Gosh, the garden had money spent on it. The dangers of money and its exuberance can ‘’kill’’ Chi and signify change for changes sake, dominance over nature and establishing one’s ego onto the landscape.

In this case, not so, changes mirroring the wishes of the new owner who wanted continuance of its past and mysterious ways. And I suggest the secret to the transformation lay in care of the person supervising the changes. A ladies touch present and of a lady with a natural flair for shape and colour balance, necessary secrets to harness Chi and maintain its magic. She was practicing five element balance by infusing the elements of fire and metal (seating and figurines) with the wood (profusion of trees and shrubs) blending with the elements of water (a small pond) and earth (mulching) but these not overpowering. The garden balanced in its Yin and Yang, all ‘’goodies’’ for cultivating beneficial Chi.

‘’Killing the Chi’’ unfortunately occurs in a garden especially when one owners touch in the garden is taken away and altered by someone else who may not have a similar vision and touch. Incrementalism is practiced by many new garden owners but some act with haste and purpose, harsh and without compromise. The axe, chainsaw and machine wielding their power and the vista of a quiet place once stimulated by auspicious Chi, displaced and it moving on to find somewhere else to ply its magic and make its home.

Now why would anyone say that?  Sure die in the woods, Feng Shui addicts like myself unfortunately view landscapes as expressions of Yin and Yang or a combination of both and their exhibition of Qi (Chi energy) in a Sheng (auspicious) or Sha (inauspicious) form. And as such attaching myself to them as a place to be in or prefer not to be. Why can’t I just look at a landscape and learn to enjoy it for what it offers?

To someone like me, Kunming is missing out on the Qi auspicious stakes. I think so because I had been influenced by first impressions, waking up (after sleeping in a hard sleeper compartment) on a 20hour train ride from Chengdu to Kunming, the 800 or so Kilometre journey partly taken up looking out of the train window, enthralled by the incredible productive and picturesque landscapes scattered along and drawing themselves away within misty hills into secluded valleys. Basically doing so until we left those fertile slopes and valleys and wound our way into torturous mountains where slopes increased and the impact from the Chinese peasant and farmer becoming nonexistent, soils barren and infertile and clinging to steep slopes resisting any intrusions by the Chinese to touch them in any way.

These were hostile places for mankind yet beautiful in their natural grandeur and finally disappearing as the sun set and train journeying into the night. As a bypass, China’s rail system we briefly witnessed is very proficient. Dual concrete sleeper tracks, some electrification present, rail tunneling through mountains then going around, transcending ravines on suspended bridges and quiet (too damn quiet to quell the snoring of one of the four Chinese ladies sharing the sleeper compartment) and running on time. Hey, I’m jealous, why can’t we have something of China’s rail systems?

Coming back to Kunming and its Yang landscapes, morning and the train passing through different countryside to that of Chengdu, passing hills bare of vegetation, soils clayish grey and stony, stone outcropping, rivers and streams dry and no rice to be seen. Kunming is in drought, waiting for summer rains, and dusty, hot and dry in nature as all places become when relying on rainfall and the flush of new life in the natural landscapes.

These are Yang characteristics, yet I noticed the good people of Kunming were exhibiting something of the landscapes nature. Kunming’s people, appeared (to a casual observer) to be not as friendly when compared to Chengdu Chinese. They seemed more purposeful, direct and wanting to quell nature rather than transpose themselves within it. Kunming is a bustling city but unblessed on our visit by the greenery and bounty of places such as Chengdu which is more harmonised by naturalness and bountiful beauty.

It’s not to say don’t go down to Kunming. I’m sure the rains will come soon and green up the parched earth, fill the paddies for rice to become established and soften the air so Kunming’s people can breathe in vital Qi and restore harmony into their lives. As an aside, Kunming’s streets and boulevards are becoming lined with trees of the instant kind so the day will arise when Kunming’s image of Yang will abate. Besides Kunming’s food is delicious and so is their provincial tea.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed pondering over and writing it. The Feng Shui Ebooks page on this website offers an in-depth collection of my knowledge, experience and writings in eBook format. Stop by and pick yourself up a complete read, or please keep browsing through the category topics and many articles I have posted on this website. Don’t forget to sign up to automatically receive the latest release articles to your email!

Regards, Ross