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Planning and Designing a Serenity Garden
I know that spring is on its way, but in my garden spring plants are still buried deep in snow. So I spend time reading and thinking about what I might do later when the darn snow finally goes away. Even if you are starting to see bare earth, it is still too early to do much. I recently attended a nice talk at the Vermont Flower Show by garden designer Jeanne Daniele of Barre Town, VT. She spoke about how to design a “Serenity Garden” and I≠d like to share some of her ideas.
Jeanne Daniele defined a Serenity Garden as an “escape room” – a place where you can go to relax and get away from the outside world. She noted that small spaces are conducive to serenity, and that you will want design something that is quiet and secluded. Begin now, she said, by measuring the space you wish to develop and doing some basic drawings.
If you live on a busy street, Jeanne suggested screening your serenity garden so that you have privacy. Plants are the ideal screen, but they take time to fill in and really do the job. She suggested a fence as a temporary measure – a wooden stockade fence 8-foot tall will certainly do the job. My suggestion? Plan your garden behind the house and away from the road so you won’t need a fence.
But Jeanne said you can plant visually interesting shrubs like lilacs or forsythia in front of evergreen trees to create privacy over the long term. She suggested using 2 rows of plants spaced so that plants in the second row are staggered in such a way as to fill in the visual gaps of the front row.
A thick hedge will do much to minimize the obtrusive sounds of cars and trucks on the street. She also suggested that you can create pleasant sounds to mask the noise of the street. A burbling, re-circulating water feature will create gentle sounds. She also noted that you can install speakers and play a tape of pleasing sounds. I vote for natural sounds, and Jeanne did note that a nice serenity garden can attract birds that will add to the ambience.
Clutter is the enemy of serenity, according to Jeanne. A lovely flower bed filled with dozens of blooming flowers may not enhance your sense of calm if the pattern is too busy. Select just a few colors and types of flowers, and grow them in quantity. Instead of having lots of small clumps of brightly colored flowers, have fewer, larger clumps. Blues, grays and greens are relaxing and soothing. Hot pink or red? They might be lovely flowers, but they can be visually jarring. Plant them elsewhere if you need them.
Where do we go to relax? For many of us it is to the beach or a lake. That makes sense in her framework: there is a vast expanse of blue or green water, and very little clutter. There is sand or rocks, water and sky. Very relaxing. Think of that model as you design your serenity garden.
Repetition is relaxing, too. Forests can be very serene, in part because there is the repetition of tree after tree as far as the eye can see. If you want to develop a portion of your property to incorporate a wooded area, get rid of the clutter. By that I mean get rid of the shrubby, weedy undergrowth and prune off low branches. I find visiting cathedrals very relaxing – they are quiet and have high ceilings. So I like to prune off branches up to 20 feet if I can, creating that same feeling.
Jeanne Daniele explained that the texture and shape of leaves can affect your mood, too. She said that round, fuzzy leaves are very relaxing, but that pointed, shiny leaves are much less so. Most perennials only bloom for a couple of weeks, so selecting plants with attractive foliage is important – the leaves will be there all summer, long after the flowers have faded and gone.
Another suggestion she had was to enclose the space of your serenity garden and have a defined entry point. A gate or an arbor tells visitors that they are entering a special place. We tend to feel most at ease when we have our backs to a wall and can see everything that is entering our space. “It gives us a feeling of reassurance and protection from the outside world,” she said.
Relaxing Space
In order to have a truly relaxing space we need to have a good place to sit down. You will want something truly comfortable. Stone is cold and hard, so put wooden Adirondack chairs or nice recliners for yourself and your loved ones – or a hammock if you are so inclined.
I find that shade is important for me – after working in the vegetable garden I like to have a cool shady spot to have a cold drink and relax before tackling the next project.
Lastly Jeanne suggested that your serenity garden be low maintenance. If you have to prune and weed constantly, you have the wrong plants, she said. Shady areas are generally less weedy, but select your plants with care to find ones that take care of themselves. Plant densely and mulch to keep down the weeds.
So take some time now to think about creating a special spot, a place where you can relax in serene surroundings.