I Was Feng Shui'd: Getting a lesson in the ancient art of placement

I wanted to ask the "feng shui" instructor why, if the pond in my garden is ideally situated to attract wealth, I haven't seen much in the way of results? We didn't realize we were enhancing the career area of our garden when we chose a flat, sunny spot to dig the hole for the pond. The upward growth habit of the grasses and astilbe encircling it should be energizing my career right about now. Victoria Coen, the certified feng shui teacher who led a class in my garden, suggested more money might flow in if I cranked up the volume of water running through the fountain. Money enters your life via water, she says, so any streams or waterfalls in your garden should move toward your house, rather than away from it, or you'll be helping your neighbors get rich.

I was probably taking it all too literally. Coen began by explaining that the ancient Chinese practice of feng shui (pronounced fung shway) is complex. Not surprising for a discipline invented by a Chinese emperor and steeped in more than 3,500 years of tradition. It is perfectly suited to the garden, for feng shui is all about nature, and literally translates to "wind" and "water." It seeks to enhance our health, wealth and happiness through bringing the harmony and balance of nature into our environment. Feng shui makes us aware of what we feel as we pass through the garden. It attempts to explain the comfort, delight, unease or attraction we may have a hard time putting into words, while teaching how to create an environment that fosters or avoids such feelings.

In essence, feng shui is the art of placement. A Chinese proverb says, "If you change your surroundings you can change your life." To those of us who constantly rearrange plants, this appears to be simple common sense. A useful feng shui principle is the imperative to remove any unhealthy or dying plants anywhere in the garden, especially in the area of health (located in the center of the garden). Have you heard of a better excuse to shop for new plants?

Coen, who works as a therapist when she isn't giving feng shui consultations, spent her childhood rearranging furniture and painting walls in her family home — always trying to make the house feel right. It was only when she read about feng shui in an Architectural Digest magazine 10 years ago that she learned what it was she'd been doing intuitively for years.

On a recent Saturday morning 20 people gathered in my garden while Coen advised on how to attract energy, or "chi," and move it through the garden in a beneficial way. The idea is to follow the feng shui principle that all space is divided into areas of energy that correspond to areas of life, such as family, career, health and relationships. The goal is to enhance the flow of good energy and eliminate anything that blocks it. Feng shui consultants use a "Ba Gua," or kind of template, to map out the areas of energy and figure out ways to enhance them by using everything from colors to mirrors. Here are some of the things I've inadvertently done right and wrong, and a few of Coen's suggestions on how to improve things:

• The relationship area of my garden is healthy because it holds several pairs of things, including a duo of frogs and a mirror that doubles what you see.

• The colorful, fragrant flowers at the front door attract chi to the health area of the garden. Adding wind chimes would help because chi responds to texture, color, scent and sound (kind of like the rest of us).

• The compost bins are ideally located in my wealth area, but it would be good to add some purple foliage or flowers (purple is thought to encourage wealth), and to toss a couple of coins in the hole when I plant them.

• I have too many front steps — 28, to be exact. Chi prefers no more than 10. And I need to cut back the foliage because chi is attracted to pathways wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side.

• Large, square pavers and big-leafed plants like gunnera cause the chi to slow down and linger — and this is a good thing.

• The spiky phormium at the top of the front steps is unfriendly, and might scare the chi away — if it isn't already tired out from climbing all those steps.

For a schedule of Coen's classes, call 206-284-1435.

Now In Bloom

Sedum spectabile is also called showy stonecrop because of its dazzling flowers. 'Brilliant' is an especially showy cultivar, growing a foot to 18 inches tall, with flat flower clusters in a shade of pink that heats up the autumn garden. The flowers fade to a warm rust, and the sturdy blue-green foliage holds up well through most of the winter.

Valerie Easton is manager at the Miller Horticultural Library. Her book, "Plant Life: Growing a Garden in the Pacific Northwest" (Sasquatch Books, 2002) is an updated selection of her magazine columns. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com.