Improving your home through proper landscaping using Feng Shui principles from several Feng Shui schools including Landscape, Water Dragon and Classic Schools can be a fun, practical and creative process if done correctly. If done poorly, it can turn what used to be a good Feng Shui home into a nightmare, actually blocking good energy that is necessary for a wonderful life.
Not only is the front door hidden from view, the landscape on this corner house is overgrown and lacks flow. There is no flow for attracting the Good Feng Shui to the home.
Three Bad Feng Shui Practices
The front yard is the location designed to attract the most good energy to your home according to most Feng Shui schools.
- Planting trees in the wrong location.
- Blocking the view of the front door from the street.
- Lack of “Good Feng Shui” plants plus incorrectly designed structures in the front yard.
Planting Trees in the Wrong Location
Trees should not be too close to the house. They should not grow over the home making it feel smothered by a too tall or too heavy tree.
Depending on the type of trees and the geographic location in which you live, you will probably want to have deciduous trees in the south if you live in the Northern Hemisphere to allow the sun to shine on the house and warm it during the winter months. Trees on the west side of your home can provide shade to keep the home cooler during the summer.
Blocking the View
Good energy finds it’s way to your home from the street to the front door. If you can’t see the front door from the street you are blocking the Good Chi from finding your home. You may want to have both some tall and short plants to add interest. This makes the chi “dance” up to the front door.
Lack of Good Feng Shui Plants Plus Incorrect Structures
Some plants are more inviting than others. There are times when you want the “protection” of spiny plants. If you are next to a shopping center or busy highway you might want pointed plants. Otherwise it is best to have soft, beautiful, flowery plants.
If your front yard feels too exposed and open – say on a corner lot – the use of a fence is usually the best defense. Having tall plants or plants that are overly full hides the house, AND it also hides the view of the front door as mentioned above. Arbors and other manmade structures should not have points aimed at the house. These would be “attacking” arrows.
If you want more information on proper landscape design, attend one of my classes. I am a guest lecturer at many horticultural programs, Home & Garden Shows and places like the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show nationwide. I also present webinars on interior and exterior design. Check out my events page for current offerings.
I know you addressed a fire hydrant near a front door. However, I am looking for a cure for a fire hydrant that is near the entrance of the sidewalk. Is there a mystical Master Lin Yun cure? or can we plant crystals underground? The City of Calgary will not let us obstruct the fire hydrant with plants or other objects. I thought I could also plan small strums along both sides of the sidewalk, as to dimension the fire hydrant standing out on its’ own. Can you suggest any mystical BTB cures?
Thank you, Lisa Marie
You’re on the right track. Doing any planting you can will certainly help. Crystals can be used to negate the affects of the fire hydrant. I would suggest long, single pointed crystals with the points facing the hydrant. A BTB cure would be to place a red silk ribbon between the hydrant and the building. Bury it in the ground. Make it a multiple of 9 inches, like 27 inches or 45 inches – whatever will make the most sense to create a barrier between hydrant and building.