Garden Sanctuaries for a Techno-World

Ciunas Gan Vaigneas
Quietness without loneliness
Gaelic

Each and every day it seems that a new part of our lives is taken over by technology. Rarely are we away from the cell phone. Fax machines are now home appliances and with the internet we rarely communicate with pen and paper any more. The digital age is firmly upon us: digital watches, ovens, automobiles, stereo and the list seems endless.

With every little thing that goes digital, we lose a fraction of the real world. What was tactile and sensual becomes cold and electronic. Many people work in isolated offices, digitization removing the human contact around the water cooler or office lunches.

If you were to picture your life as a balance scale, the technology side is growing heavier by the day. This lopsidedness must have a counterbalance, something that is the antithesis of cold hard techno world. The answer today is clearly that the garden and nature are the consummate counterbalance. This is the reason why we are lured to these earthly activities, for they fill an intrinsic need that keeps humanity "grounded" to the most basic and essential parts of life.

This concept tells us that the creation of a garden habitat and an urban oasis amidst a desert of technology is the most natural therapy for rest and renewal. However, it's not just any garden, but one that separates us and inspires us to cultivate spiritual thought and reflection. The qualities that lead us to this garden retreat are simple problem solving, and the choice of images that reflect our individual spiritual path.

When you live in a city, achieving separation can be difficult. You want to control what you see while in your retreat garden. Conversely, you want to gain as much privacy as possible from others looking in. Both concerns may require enclosure. The best techniques allow light and air to circulate without sacrificing too much of the screen.

Walls are the primary enclosure, though they are expensive and solid. These applications are borrowed from the Islamic walled gardens which are focused inward on a central element. Fences are less expensive and can be constructed out of lattice or other materials made more solid by an attractive cloak of vines. Coral honeysuckle, Lonicera heckrotti; evergreen clematis, Clematis armandi, or Chinese jasmine, Jasminum polyanthemum will perfume the air whenever they are in bloom. Where building codes do not allow such construction, hedges or plant screens are the only possible solution. Trees such as coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens are the best example for California. These trees grow quickly and prefer tight spacing, their new bright green spring growth creating a striking contrast against the darker background. Warmer climates in the south may prefer eugenia, Syzygium paniculatum or one of the less invasive species of bamboo.

Ambient city noise, neighbors and traffic are all threats to our sense of peace. To make the spiritual garden more fruitful for us, the sound can be masked by falling water. Today it's simple to obtain fountains, but be sure to choose one that is not only very attractive up close, but pushes enough water to make sufficient "white noise." Along with sound mitigation water is one of the five elements essential to life, and its mere presence appeals to the more primitive aspects of our consciousness.

To make a space for retreat more than just aesthetic and environmental, it must touch our spirits. In the eastern religions, the garden itself as a microcosm of nature is all the imagery needed. Each stone, each plant, even paving can become a focus for meditation. These gardens are created with special care to use fewer elements but with greater attention to the minute details of each one.

In the west, symbolic imagery is most important. There is often a central work of art depicting something meaningful to the religious culture. These can be something as simple as a goddess sculpture or as specific as a statue of St. Francis of Assisi. This choice of image must be evocative for the user personally to make the space is equally as intimate and meaningful. Often the entire garden is focused upon the image, much the same way that altars are arranged in places of worship.

To take full advantage of the psychological benefits of a private sacred garden, you must be comfortable there. This requires furniture of some type for sitting or reclining. Donít just run out and buy some plastic chairs, because the furniture itself should be as artistically pleasing as the garden that surrounds it. High quality wood garden furniture is the best choice because it doesnít get blistering hot in summer or bone-chilling cold in winter. From Adirondak chairs to English garden benches, there is a style for everyoneís personal taste.

Comfort also relates to environment. If you live in a very hot, inland region, be sure there is plenty of shade in the private garden. This can be permanent such as an overhead arbor. This structure can be fitted with either an outdoor ceiling fan or a misting system for evaporative cooling where the air is dry. Thereís also market umbrellas that are great temporary fixes. For winter you can incorporate an outdoor fire place or fire pit. Consider a large ceramic outdoor oven that is both safe and moveable.

It's plants that make the greatest technology-busters. The ones you choose for this garden should be your favorites as long as they are suited to the immediate exposure. Choose species that offer a diversity of foliage color and texture so that even when not in bloom the garden is satisfying. The color green is the best for absorbing light and to cut down glare of bright surfaces. A single bronze leafed specimen such as cutleaf Japanese maple, Acer palmatum ëDissectum Atropurpureum', will make a striking accent against such a background.

Flowers are highly personal. You can concentrate on those that are intensely fragrant for a changing aromatherapy experience as the seasons pass. Daphne, gardenia, old roses, angelís trumpet, Natal plum and others are long lived and highly scented in small, enclosed spaces. In very hot climates it may be more soothing to choose only cool colored flowers in white, blue, purple and pink, avoiding red, orange and yellow.

The main purpose for the sanctuary, spiritual garden, urban oasis or however you decide to describe it, is to find the counter balance for technology. Repair to your garden when life is pressing because after all, God did create a garden as the perfect environment for Adam and Eve. Perhaps this offers us a biblical mandate that promises when the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy...there is always and will forever be, the garden.