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Press Releases
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Turn a Garden Into a Serene Scene
Wisconsin State Journal
By Chris Martell - April 20, 2004 |
When people are stressed, counselors advise them to picture a serene place in their mind. Gardening expert Daniel Dix is in the business of making that sort of escapist imagery a reality.
"The problem with most Western gardens is that people try to fill every available inch with something," he said. "If there are a zillion rose bushes, it makes it hard to appreciate the beauty of a single rose."
For inspiration, Dix often looks to the East and its Zen gardens. Here are a few of his suggestions:
* Add a water element, like a pond.
"A pond reflects the moon and clouds, so it's almost like you are a god, looking down on the moon and the stars. A body of water is always changing, moving all the time, so you never get tired of looking at it."
Water also can attract wildlife, birds, butterflies and bees. Among the ponds Dix has installed, there was one outside the room of a terminally ill man, and another in the yard of a man who had been left a quadriplegic by a drunken driver. Water wound around the house, and a wooden bridge led to the other side. |
* Use meandering paths.
"Paths tell you where to go, and guide your eyes," Dix said. "There should always be seating next to a path, so people can stop and look at the flowers or water, and they can have conversation side by side, rather than face to face."
* Install low voltage lighting, to add a gentle glow to the landscape at night.
* Carefully placed boulders add an element of permanence and strength to a landscape.
"You should put them back in the earth the way they came out. They should be covered with lichen and moss, and have vegetation to soften them."
* Grow at least a few vegetables.
Dix created a therapeutic garden at a nursing home, and it was the small vegetable patch that most captivated the visitors.
"People liked to talk about the vegetables constantly, and looking at nature makes people feel better and restores health more quickly. |
* Have an arbor to sit beneath, and create a sense of being sheltered.
"People like to sit in the shade," Dix said, "but they like to look out at the sun."
* Seek quiet.
Choose garden features that don't have to be maintained by noisy equipment.
"In some suburbs, the sound of lawnmowers and weed whips is heard all day long. Maintaining a pond doesn't require noisy machines. It's restful.
* Change your attitude.
"If a plant dies or grows where you don't think it shouldn't, don't worry. Try to enjoy it. Some people think kids should stay away from their gardens. But if you ask me, that's exactly where kids should be."
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