Trish Symons - Serenity in the Garden
In April our guest speaker Trish Symons shared with us some great tips for serenity in the garden. As usual her humour, tips and beautiful pictures made for a great evening. If you missed the meeting here are some of the things that she shared.
Creating Serenity involves many things, here are a few to consider
Green
- Have an area of just green, it brings a feeling of calmness
- A place to sit and rest that is in a part of the garden that has a lot of green and doesn't require a lot of work to keep tidy.
Rest
- An area of shade that you can sit in
- Comfortable seating that you can relax in
- Privacy
- Shelter from bugs
- The sound and sight of water calms and masks out other noises
Smiles and Passion
- Work with plants that you are passionate about
- Use colours that make you smile in every season
- Find a piece to add to your garden that is unique to your personality.
- Make sure you can see your garden from places that you spend a lot of time at like the kitchen window or your deck
- Look at the limb formations of trees and bushes to find ones that will look neat in the winter when there are no leaves on them. She suggests birch and conifers for the winter.
- Do you have a dream garden? Take some time to dream and write it down, then each year work towards completing your dream once piece at a time.
Destress
- Place your decks facing the sunrise/sunset
- Attract birds, critters and butterflies to an area where you can sit and watch them
- Put a big rock in the centre of a bird bath to attract smaller birds
- Plant your favourite plants where the sun will hit them at the time of day that you most often enjoy your garden
- Enjoy the scents of your garden, plants roses (check out David Austin Roses) and other scented flowers near windows, decks or places that you would sit in the garden. Which way does the wind blow predominately in your garden?
We all want our home to be a place that we can relax in. When you drive into your property do you smile and relax? Think about your gardens and property, what would you change so that you can smile and relax when you arrive home.
- Create a garden appropriate to your stage of life and lifestyle - how much time and money do you have to designate to gardening?
Here are some suggestions to make gardening easier
- Cover the hills with flowers beds so that you don't have to mow them
- Create a scree bed, once set up it needs very little care and very little water
- Mulch to save yourself some weeding (only use wood chips after they have sat for 2 years)
- Use Rain Barrels
- If you travel a lot consider planters with cactus and succulents in them
- Create paths by putting old carpet (don't use shag) upside down and cover with whatever you want to create the path with. This will prevent grass from coming through.
- Establish limits and boundaries for your garden
- Use only organic weed control so that you don't have to worry about children or pets getting sick from your garden
.......... and #1 learn how to relax!!
To learn more from Trish Symons follow her blog - Click here
Creating Serenity involves many things, here are a few to consider
Green
- Have an area of just green, it brings a feeling of calmness
- A place to sit and rest that is in a part of the garden that has a lot of green and doesn't require a lot of work to keep tidy.
Rest
- An area of shade that you can sit in
- Comfortable seating that you can relax in
- Privacy
- Shelter from bugs
- The sound and sight of water calms and masks out other noises
Smiles and Passion
- Work with plants that you are passionate about
- Use colours that make you smile in every season
- Find a piece to add to your garden that is unique to your personality.
- Make sure you can see your garden from places that you spend a lot of time at like the kitchen window or your deck
- Look at the limb formations of trees and bushes to find ones that will look neat in the winter when there are no leaves on them. She suggests birch and conifers for the winter.
- Do you have a dream garden? Take some time to dream and write it down, then each year work towards completing your dream once piece at a time.
Destress
- Place your decks facing the sunrise/sunset
- Attract birds, critters and butterflies to an area where you can sit and watch them
- Put a big rock in the centre of a bird bath to attract smaller birds
- Plant your favourite plants where the sun will hit them at the time of day that you most often enjoy your garden
- Enjoy the scents of your garden, plants roses (check out David Austin Roses) and other scented flowers near windows, decks or places that you would sit in the garden. Which way does the wind blow predominately in your garden?
We all want our home to be a place that we can relax in. When you drive into your property do you smile and relax? Think about your gardens and property, what would you change so that you can smile and relax when you arrive home.
- Create a garden appropriate to your stage of life and lifestyle - how much time and money do you have to designate to gardening?
Here are some suggestions to make gardening easier
- Cover the hills with flowers beds so that you don't have to mow them
- Create a scree bed, once set up it needs very little care and very little water
- Mulch to save yourself some weeding (only use wood chips after they have sat for 2 years)
- Use Rain Barrels
- If you travel a lot consider planters with cactus and succulents in them
- Create paths by putting old carpet (don't use shag) upside down and cover with whatever you want to create the path with. This will prevent grass from coming through.
- Establish limits and boundaries for your garden
- Use only organic weed control so that you don't have to worry about children or pets getting sick from your garden
.......... and #1 learn how to relax!!
To learn more from Trish Symons follow her blog - Click here
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