Garden Designing & Homestyle Ideas Garden Designer UK

During the course of my work as a garden designer I’m often asked by my clients to incorporate into their garden designs a quiet corner for meditation or an area where they can sit quietly and generally just enjoy their garden.

I think it’s so interesting that in this day and age where everyone is so hectic and busy, that more and more people regard their gardens as a place for quiet contemplation or even a spiritual haven.

Throughout history and in many religions the garden has often played an important role in being a place to seek spiritual enlightenment.

In the Christian religions, one of the most famous spiritual gardens must be the Garden Of Eden and the theme of the garden was evident through the medieval period where enclosed secret gardens were seen as a representation of the Virgin Mary.

These garden where often enclosed by a wall and planted up with lots of roses and usually had water features as well. Tending to these gardens was seen as a form of contemplation and prayer while in the worship of God’s flowers.

One feature that is seen in many spiritual gardens is the Labyrinth and the medieval Christian church produced an eleven ring sacred Labyrinth that had great religious and meditation significance.

The Labyrinth has only one path leading to the centre and one path back out again, its significance being that as you walk the Labyrinth one way then the other way it is meant to shifts awareness from the right side of the brain to the left.

This “mental exercise” was to induce a greater sense of awareness and spiritual enlightenment.

Islamic gardens were also held in great importance and gardens are referred to in the Koran.

Many Islamic gardens are meant to be a portrayal of what heaven would be like. Geometry and water are prominent features and both have symbolic meanings from the Koran.

The story of creation is said to have unfolded in a garden and God is considered to be the first gardener.

The Zen gardens of China and Japan where designed by Buddhist Monks for silent contemplation, for acts of worship and tea ceremonies. These gardens were designed to be places of tranquillity and often include several symbolic symbols to reflect solitude and the give enlightenment.

Once again water is an important element; often designed to help Buddhist Monks in their meditations.

Buddhists feel that by spending time in the garden helps to awaken one’s true self while contemplating the beauty of the surrounding garden in peace.

I believe that all gardens should capture some essence of nature, be an oasis, an area of paradise and your own little sanctuary from the busy world around us.

With so much gardening in the media nowadays, it does seem as if the very essence of gardening and gardens is often being ignored, and by the “essence”, I mean nature.

So many of us like to potter around, trim, weed, mow, dig, prune and so on and much of our time spent gardening is during the weekend.

Have you noticed how much better you feel on a Monday when you’ve spent the weekend gardening – perhaps not always physically when we’ve tended to overdo things, but emotionally?

Although many of us spend a fair amount of time working in our gardens, how many of us actually spend time in our gardens doing nothing in particular?

The key to tuning in to the spiritual aspect of a garden is simply to take the time to observe and be quiet in it.

A garden is surrounded by life, nature, the elements and so on even if you have a modernistic garden or not.

If you come to the garden with the right perspective there are rewards available for the mind and spirit.

As mentioned earlier, so many of us tend to use our gardens for work, and many of us cannot simply go into the garden without noticing something that needs to be done, trimmed, hoed or whatever.

We may even use the garden for other such busy activities as entertaining with barbecues and so on. How many of us can admit to using our gardens for periods of quiet meditation or contemplation?

We spend so much time busying ourselves making our gardens perfect that we forget that it is nature that is in charge and we could simply make use of this natural outside space to tune in more to our surroundings.

In various religions and philosophies the garden together with nature plays a significant part; the Garden Of Gethsemine, the Hanging Gardens Of Babylon, The Garden of Eden (or Paradise – taken from the Persian word “pairidaeza” – meaning “enclosure”), Buddha’s moment of enlightenment while sitting under a Boding tree.

In the Islamic tradition the Koran promises the faithful that the “Gardens of Paradise shall be their hospitality, therein to dwell forever, desiring no removal from them”… and so on.

Many gardens designed for Spirituality can be seen in Buddhism whereby many are designed in a mandala form.

Your garden – no matter how well kept – is still your link to the outside elements and nature in general and worthy of having you in it and allowing the fresh air and elements to help spring-clean the mind every now and then.

Plants That Are Reputed To Have Spiritual Connections:
• The Grape Vine
• The Madonna Lily
• The Butterfly Bush
• The Sweet Bay
• The Hupeh Rowan
• The English Yew
• The Common Box