A garden designed by Kiki Alwan, owner of Beloved by the Sky Gardening.Kiki Alwan/Supplied
The simple act of being in a garden, whether it’s a small patio or a large landscape, can do wonders for our peace of mind.
As Claudette Sims, a veteran gardener of 50-plus years who is based in Hamilton, says: “Gardening is one of the easiest and best ways to improve our mental health.”
“Whenever I feel overwhelmed or anxious about things, I go into my garden and, within moments, I start to relax,” she says. “When I walk by my tulip tree, with its fantastic aroma, I experience calming aromatherapy. When I look at my ferns, with their lush green fronds and graceful growth, I feel more serene. Rubbing the leaves of my spice bush is soothing, and watching the wind rustle through my ornamental grasses is meditative. My garden heals and recentres me.”
Countless studies have shown that when we spend time outdoors our minds and bodies are soothed. Japanese maple in a garden designed by Kiki Alwan.Kiki Alwan/Supplied
For the past 35 years, Sims has been turning her front and back yards into a green urban oasis that not only calms her, but makes her neighbours feel better, too.
People walking by often thank her for creating such a tranquil place in the heart of a bustling city. “The other day, I was weeding in the front yard, and a little boy on a bike said, ‘I love your garden!’” says Sims. “That is the power of a garden. It makes people – young or old – feel lighter.”
Nature is a natural stress reliever, and countless studies have shown that when we spend time outdoors our minds and bodies are soothed. A 2020 research paper from the University of Michigan found that even 20 to 30 minutes in green space can cause a significant drop in cortisol, the primary stress hormone, making us feel happier, less anxious and even more hopeful.
So how do you create a calm, cool green space that can act as a buffer against the stressors of the modern world?
Master gardener Kiki Alwan, who has her own horticulture design firm, Beloved by the Sky Gardening, in Guelph, Ont., says soothing gardens usually incorporate some, or all, of these basic principles:
Simple design
Soothing gardens avoid clutter and overplanting, but have lots of greenery, Alwan says.Kiki Alwan/Supplied
“A soothing garden feels safe,” says Alwan. “It uses greenery to create an enclosed space that feels like a warm hug. It gives you time and space to ground yourself.”
Soothing gardens avoid clutter and overplanting, but have lots of greenery (shrubs, trees, ferns, grasses). In her yard, she planted a variety of native yews (good habitats for birds and very low maintenance), as well as a mixture of different trees (a lilac tree, mixed with a Japanese maple) to create a natural sound barrier.
Incorporating structures and pathways made from natural materials such as wood and stone helps the hardscaping blend into softscape in a calming way. Sims has a small wooden bridge that arches gently over a pond where toads and frogs live (and the odd skunk).
Other simple, soothing elements include a water feature (the sound can help activate the parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for relaxation); as well as fragrant plants (they are nature’s aromatherapy). Alwan, for instance, plants lavender “so every time I brush it, I get wonderful whiffs of its dreamy scent.”
Make your garden your happy place with joyful blooms, bright colours and, yes, even goofy gnomes
A soft colour palette
Incorporating structures and pathways made from natural materials helps the hardscaping blend into softscape in a calming way, Alwan says.Kiki Alwan/Supplied
Alwan layered in shades of green in her yard, with native grasses and ferns, and a selection of perennials in soft colours, textures and shapes.
She has silver mound artemisia, also called angel’s hair, that “is a nice, silvery teal and when the wind blows, it’s like a wave of water”; Japanese forest grass “which leans downward and anything that points to the ground, helps keep us grounded”; billowy hydrangeas and whirling butterfly, a captivating perennial with delicate white to pink flowers that moves like its namesake suggests, on a gentle breeze.
From dahlias to peonies, your grandma’s old-fashioned garden flowers are back in style
Sims uses a groundcover called bloodroot that “has leaves that hug its beautiful white flowers”), while one of her favourite grasses is little bluestem, a round-shaped foliage with a gorgeous blue-green colour in summer that turns red, copper and brown in the fall.
A quiet place
And the final must-have for a soothing garden? A quiet nook to sit, settle and observe, preferably in the shade, and just “be present” in the garden.
For Sims, tranquility comes from watching the abundance of wildlife that is attracted to the native plants she has carefully selected, including a variety of shrubs (gray dogwood, red dogwood, alternate leaf dogwood and witch hazel), service berry trees (“I compete with the birds for their berries in the summer”); a redbud tree (“its heart-shaped leaves and small purple-pink flowers grow in clusters along the trunk and branches before their leaves emerge, which delights me as well as the leaf cutter bees”); and her beloved tulip tree (“hummingbirds love it”).
For calming texture and layering, she has ferns (such as the cinnamon fern – “hummingbirds use the scale from these ferns to make their nest,” and the Christmas fern, which stays green all year); for edging, moss phlox (provides a carpet of star-shaped flowers that helps crowd out weeds and prevents soil erosion); for soft colour, echinacea and Virginia bluebells (pollinators love both); and to make hummingbirds happy, she plants tall thimbleweed (its fuzzy fibres are material for their nests).
“Sitting in nature is a quiet, simple act, yet often profound,” she says. “When I see birds come and bathe in the water, or hummingbirds use my plants to build their nest, I think, I did it right. I built a garden that nature loves.”
Alliums in a garden designed by Alwan.Kiki Alwan/Supplied
Small-space tips
Urban living often comes with the challenge of limited outdoor space. However, a balcony or small patio can offer an incredible opportunity to create your own mini-garden oasis, says Kat Granger, a master gardener and owner of Seeds of Imbolc, a cultivator and seller of heirloom organic seeds and plants in Fergus, Ont. You just have to pick the right plants for the right conditions.
Go crazy for green
When floor space is tight, go vertical. Hanging planters, stacked containers, wall-mounted shelves or trellises filled with lush foliage can be used to create a private sanctuary. Granger says plants such as ivy, jasmine or morning glories, as well as vegetables such as pole bean, tomatoes and cucumbers, can be trained to grow on trellises and walls. Inject more greenery with containers filled with ferns, snake plants, caladium and peace lilies (they love the shade) or hardy geraniums, ivy, lavender and succulents (they are sun worshippers).
Flowers for the nose
Scent in a garden attracts pollinators including bees, butterflies and hummingbirds and it makes gardeners feel good, evoking happy memories. Granger says a medley of pots, filled with sweet-smelling herbs – basil, mint, rosemary, thyme, or chives, oregano, parsley and dill – are perfumes she never tires of. She also likes to plant scented geraniums, with fragrances such as rose, apple, lemon or mint.
Colours that calm
An elegant colour palette of green and white soothes the soul. A container filled with white petunias, Shasta daisies, hydrangeas, verbena and angelonia is the perfect mix of pretty blooms with lush foliage.