World View

How to bring your backyard abroad

If you fancy yourself a world traveler, but it's more fantasy than reality, take heart: While it might not be possible to book your flight today, it is possible to bring your dream destination to your backyard - and enjoy time abroad every day. With the right additions to your landscape, you can satisfy your wanderlust right at home. Here's how.

Create a European countryside

Ah, this is the stuff of novels. Where tea is taken, poetry is written and romance blooms. (Or, at least, a place to escape from a hectic household and too much television.) By simply adding winding pathways, fragrant, colorful blossoms and well-chosen accessories to a lush green grass lawn, you can transform your landscape into a tranquil European country hideaway. 

How to start? For the quaint charm of an authentic country garden, include a variety of plants, shrubs and trees common to the European countryside, mixing bright colors and different sizes and textures. These can be planted in curvy beds (avoid harsh, straight lines for a relaxed, natural feel). Flowers can also be displayed in an assortment of antique-looking planters. Some good choices:

• Old-fashioned rose varieties
  
• Aromatic herbs, such as lavender, rosemary, sage and basil
  
• Evergreens for year round color and privacy
  
• Fragrant flowering bushes, like lilac and forsythia
  
• Fruit bearing trees
  
• Poppies and marigolds along with a thick healthy grass (find out more in the Yard Doctor's Prescription for a Healthy Lawn) to mimic a meadow in an area
  
• Tulips, geraniums, forget-me-nots, peonies and pansies
  
• Vines and creeping plants - a must to complete your country scene 

Next, accent your landscape to make your European countryside more inviting, interesting and livable. Some suggestions:

• ustic wooden or stone fences - perfect for your climbing plants.
  
• An arbor or gazebo, also wonderful for the climbers
  
• Winding pathways through the grass lawn and plant life, mixing textures of gravel, bark and pavers
  
• Rustic furnishings and decor, such as a weathered teak dining set and wrought iron benches and side tables. Crumpets are optional.

Add the energy of Asian influence

Mysterious. Sublime. Nourishing. Your yard can be all this and more. To create an Asian-inspired outdoor sanctuary, plan your landscape so natural chi, or energy, can flow properly and bring peace, balance and well being to you and your family - right in your backyard. How? Asian gardens incorporate the principles of feng shui and the five elements of nature. According to the philosophy, the universe is made up of five elements working together, each of which should be represented in your garden. Here's what they are, what they do and how you can add them to your yard.

1. Water: enhances relaxation, introspection and an easygoing nature.

Adding water features, such as a pond or fountain, is just one way to include this element in your landscape. You can also add materials that simply symbolize water: glass, mirrors, and dark colors like black, gray and deep blue. You can even use wrought iron accessories to generate the same positive chi.

2. Earth: activates strength, order and stability.

Typically, earth is represented through the placement of large rocks, stones and earthen or clay statues throughout your landscape. Raised planting beds and layered flower gardens with earth tone colors can also generate the effects of earth. 

3. Wood: fosters intuition, creativity and growth.

Plants and trees typically represent this element, but you can also achieve a similar effect by incorporating bright shades of blue and green with flowers, furniture and lawn ornaments. 

4. Fire: inspires leadership qualities.

This element is often symbolized with flowering plants in bright shades of red and different hues of pink. You can also add items that represent fire, such as outdoor lighting, candles or structures in red or triangular shapes. 

5. Metal: enhances mental sharpness and common sense.

You can represent this element in a number of creative ways. Add gold, silver, copper or bronze furniture or fixtures to you outdoor decor. Splashes of pure white, whether in garden beds, flower containers, flags, or decorative items can also be used to tap into this element. Circular and arched shapes can do the same.

By following some of these guidelines, being mindful of the simple, minimalist design that typifies Asian gardens, you can make your outdoor space more appealing and welcoming, while adding positive energy to your life. Hey, it's worth a try.