As the Year of the Tiger dawns, it seems an auspicious time to assess our gardens’ Feng Shui.  Betcha didn’t know you could do that.  Not only can you do so, but Feng Shui experts say you must  – to keep happiness and prosperity flowing to your door in the form of positive life energy, or chi. As your front garden’s chi goes, so goes your life.

Whatever your feeling about such ephemeral things may be, much of Feng Shui is based upon common design sense – things that make humans more comfortable. These simple fixes that follow can’t guarantee you’ll win the lottery or a new love, but they can improve your home value, curb appeal, and help you get your take-out delivery faster.

Free Your Garden, The Rest Will Follow

Does your entry look like this:

If the moss doesn’t trip visitors, the Euphorbia growing up through the steps could give sensitive types a rash

Or this:

This inviting 2BR charmer at 5011 1st Ave, currently for sale, needs no lessons in curb appeal.

The first thing, as with inside your home, is to remove clutter and confusion. The chi (and everyone else) needs a clear runway to your front door.

Now envision the chi as the Zeeks pizza guy and answer these questions honestly:
•    Can he see your house number from the street?
•    Will he slip on moss-covered steps?
•    Must he do “Matrix”-worthy limbo moves to avoid overhanging branches?

Making Hardscaping Easier

Walk to your door as a newcomer would, noticing anything that could make a guest uncomfortable – wobbly railings, containers displaying the corpses of last season’s browned annuals, peeling paint, and so on. Improve safety first, then cosmetic changes. If backing out of the driveway is hair-raising, hang a convex mirror. Accent plants, containers, house numbers, and lighting make subtle signposts to the door.

The easiest way to visualize optimal chi flow is to imagine water flowing through a space, following corners and gravity naturally. All pathways should be clear and well lit. Any spots that would form a puddle (gathering bad chi and possibly mosquitoes) or a dam that would slow down positive chi should be addressed.

In creating a new path or flowerbed, using the flowing shapes of a riverbed will be generally more pleasing than straight edges.

Plant Choices: Planting Good Neighbors

Seattle’s balmy climate becomes a mixed blessing when it comes to Feng Shui –plants which, if hit by the occasional cold snap would stay in bounds, become green Godzillas here. Numerous Green Lake homes look like the Lost City of Z being consumed by jungle plants.

Avoid high-maintenance plants; example: English Laurel (Prunus Laurocerasus) is a tree that wants to grow 30 feet high. Growing it as a “hedge” you is sentencing yourself to days of pruning biannually. In The Complete Shade Gardener (Houghton Mifflin), George Schenk goes so far as to say:

…The planting of an English laurel hedge is an act of aggression against one’s neighbor – and against oneself as well. It is the fightingest of hedges, pushing outward and upward as soon as you turn your back.

In planting, add only what you will actually maintain.

For some free hands-on pruning training, check out this weekend’s Prunathon.  Think of this as Spring Training for Gardeners.  Before you pick up those pruners (the magnolia still shivers at the memory of last year’s “trimming”), head over to Sky Nursery (18528 Aurora Ave N) for an action-packed day of garden events.  Get hands-on practice on plants before tackling your own, with the help of Master Gardeners, horticultural fortune tellers and Father “Weedo” Sarducci to hear your gardening confessions.  Lectures, demos galore. You can even have 15 minutes to consult with a garden designer for ideas for a small section of your yard (bring pictures, layout if available). Sponsored by PlantAmnesty.

Camouflage: More than A Fashion Choice

As much as you want your door and mailbox to be seen, you don’t want to highlight your trash bins, garden tools and compost pile.   If you don’t have room for a shed, consider getting a free-standing linkable wooden or PVC trellis to screen unwanted views.  Living view-blockers include:

•    Vines on a tripod;
•    A compact shrub;
•    A dwarf specimen tree (like a crababpple, redbud, or Japanese maple);
•    A narrow-growing conifer like “Skyrocket” Juniper; or
•    A deciduous tree like  “Sentry Maple” or “Fastigiate” Beech.

Feng Shui is much more layered and variable in form than discussed here. For information on where to place water features, what colors and shapes to place where for what benefit, consult books like these: Practical Encyclopedia of Feng Shui by Gill Hale, or Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui by Karen Kingston.