Better Homes and Gardens (Australia)

THEMES YOU CAN ADOPT

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• Re-create a natural landscape in miniature. In Chinese gardens, a copse of pines, or a single tree, becomes a forest, while a mass planting of mondo grass represents rolling hills. You can use trees you love and substitute other strappy-leafed plants for mondo grass.

• Pavilions create a framed view – through an opening, a window or a ‘cut’ through a wall – to reveal something special. Shrubbery is pruned so more of the garden can be seen through it. Give your inside windows an outlook to a stunning garden specimen so it can be like a moving picture, changing with the seasons.

• The aim of many Chinese gardens is to balance five elements – wood, fire, earth, metal and water – to create a fluid, nurturing environmen­t. In your garden, wood can be trees and fire a red-flowering plant. Earth can be a garden bed, metal a work of art and water a simple bird bath. Wood fuels fire, fire forms earth, earth holds metal, metal carries water and water feeds wood – it’s how you place each element that makes an impact.

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