Create your own holistic garden!

Kayla Gulec Kayla Gulec
jardin sur l'eau, Coaching Paysage Coaching Paysage Tropical style garden
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In addition to advances in research, there has been a renewal and revival in natural therapies and treatments in our culture. Treating the body and mind holistically provides a connection with the oneself, but a major component for many in healing is a connection with the environment and creating an environment that facilitates the healing process. Gardening is one way of connecting the mind and body to the environment and the spirit, and at homify, we want to show you just how to do that by giving you tips on how to create your own holistic garden! Follow these tips, and you'll have a gorgeous, relaxing holistic garden that will wow your friends and family and bring you a peace of mind that you never knew possible.

What Exactly Is A Holistic Garden?

Sight is the most noticeable sensory experience of any garden, but there are many other senses that are aroused in the involvement of a holistic garden. A holistic garden is a multi-sensory garden that incorporates sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Enriching a garden to capture each sense removes the sterility in life and creates a connection between the mind and the body.

Creating your own holistic garden isn't even a challenging task. In fact, it becomes meditative in and of itself – as you plan, design, and execute your holistic garden, you will be deeply focusing your mind, and you'll feel a sense of spiritual purpose.

Sights In The Garden

As sight is the most evident sensory experience in your garden, it's a great idea to start with that. The sights you see in any garden range from plants to ornamentation and accessories, even to architectural structures such as stone walls, pathways, or fences. What's important is that each component be considered for the overall visual experience.

With varied plants, there are varied sights and unlimited possibilities. They come in all manner of colours: green, blue, red, white, purple, or yellow, and they come in all manner of sizes. They can even be deciduous or evergreen. What you want to consider is what you'll see through each season. Think about adding something like yaupon holly with berries that will bloom during the winter months. There are many radiant leaves that can be enjoyed all year round, and there are a great many varieties of flowers, berries, and seeds that are beautiful in each stage. Canna seeds are just as intriguing as the blooms, and you can pick it in your favourite colour.

Activate Your Sense Of Smell

It may seem quite strange, but fragrance in the holistic garden is too often overlooked in favor of larger, brighter, longer-lasting blooms. That's why so many flowers at the florist end up smelling like nothing, and scent is often forgotten entirely when selecting plants generally. When designing and building your holistic garden, you want to keep fragrance in mind to activate your sense of smell while you relax. Sweetly scented roses and lavender are sensory explosions, and aesthetically pleasing as well, and the soft purple and red hues of the flowers will bring the visual aspect into your garden. Beyond flowers, there are also sweetly scented leaves like artemisia and canyon daisy that you could plant. Brushing by either plant will release a gorgeous fragrance into the air, and as an added bonus, they're deer resistant, so you won't have to worry about anyone eating the beautiful flowers you've just planted.

Bring Calming Sounds To The Garden

The sounds you hear in your new holistic garden should be relaxing, so to drown out any possible noise from nearby traffic, consider adding an accessory or two. Wind chimes are an excellent way to drown out the noise of the outside world. They provide a soft chime – just enough to relax you without distracting you – and they come in so many sizes, shapes, and colours that you'll have absolutely no trouble picking the perfect one for your garden.

If you're looking for a different kind of sound to bring to the garden, an excellent alternative would be to add a small fountain or stream. Nothing is more soothing than the quiet trickle of running water. Not only is the sound pleasing, water fountains are aesthetically pleasing to all and also come in a multitude of styles. You could have a fountain made from rock, like the one we see here, or you might choose a nice bamboo fountain. The possibilities are endless! One thing's for sure, though – adding your own touch and your own distinct sound to your garden will relax you to the point where you'll never want to leave.

Wildlife In The Garden

What you're creating in your back yard will attract others, and we're not just talking about people. Consider the impact your holistic garden has on wildlife, and you should want to support a variety of wildlife to be a part of the experience. If bees are drawn in by your setup, then you probably have some sweetly scented plants with bright flowers in your garden, and because of global decrease in bee populations, it's probably a good idea for your immediate area, as well as the planet, to encourage as many of them to dine on your plants as possible. You will see the bees, hear them, smell what they smell, touch what they touch, and eat the fruits of their labor, perhaps quite literally, in what they pollinate. And if you get bees, you will probably attract many other insects such as dragonflies, butterflies, moths, wasps, and ladybugs. Chances are you won't be happy with every critter that wanders into your garden, but their presence means your garden is actually doing very well. Actually, wasps are great pollinators and help control that unwanted bug population that could be destroying your newly planted flowers. And of course, birds are always easy to draw into the garden with a well placed bird feeder and some fresh water.

Taste In The Garden

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Coming to another sensory experience in your holistic garden, we want to consider taste. If you want to graze as you gaze, you definitely have to include a few edibles. Herbs are undoubtedly the easiest to plant and grow in your garden, and some very inviting herbs are rosemary, purple sage, and mint. If you'd rather stay away from herbs, however, you might consider edible flowers such as pansies or nasturtium. But let's not forget about the more edible edibles – you can plant any variety of vegetables or fruits in your holistic garden. Tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, and celery are all quite easy to grow, and on top of that, you have just about all your ingredients for your next salad right in your back yard! As for fruits, you might consider sticking with some berries. They grow fast, and you grow a lot of them. For a bit of a challenge, try growing some watermelon. It may be difficult, but in the end, you'll have a big, delicious fruit that you can share with the whole family.

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