Boyscout1234
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Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:43 pm

Boy Scout eagle project, HELP!

Hi everyone,

I'm very new to the forums. I have no concept of gardening except taking a small class in Junior High. I'm currently a Boy Scout, and my idea is I want to create a meditation garden for my Church's convent, where the sisters sleep.

The idea is to use drought tolerant plants, but I have no concept of that either. Can anybody help me...?

Thank you,
Tyler Nguyen

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Where are you located?
How big is the site?
How much sun does it get?
How much maintenance and who is going to do that?

How about a Zen garden
It is mostly stones,It will have to be raked to keep the swirling patterns, large stones for the islands and a very few plants to thttp://www.houzz.com/zen-gardenake care of.

Meditation gardens are usually in an enclosed area with some seat or viewing spot. Very few plants.
Water is frequently an element, but it is costly to run a fountain over time. You can hint at water through the lines in the garden to suggest a stream

Select soft plants that will rustle in the wind or gently sway. Like tall grasses and sedges, bamboo ( keep it contained) or a small grouping of trees. Large stones or garden pieces like a tall ceramic vase/fountain with just a trickle of water.

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rainbowgardener
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Location: TN/GA 7b

Agreed, we can give more specifics once you have answered imafan's questions.

In the meantime elements of a meditation garden include simplicity, appeal to the senses, timelessness, space. Simplicity means spareness , focus on the lines and elements. Appeal to the senses would be color, used sparingly so it is noticed, beautiful forms, art objects, pleasant sounds (wind chimes, water, grasses, etc), fragrance (pines, fragrant flowers). Timelessness is conveyed by using aged materials that look like they have been there forever. You can get a concrete statue (or even a few plain blocks or stone) and paint it with a mix of moss and buttermilk blended together and it will quickly grow moss. One trick for making your garden look more spacious is to have large stones in front and smaller stones in back, especially in a line, so you have artificial foreshortening.

Imafan is right, meditation garden would usually include water either real or imagined. That can be a small fountain:
small fountain.jpg
small fountain.jpg (58.47 KiB) Viewed 1558 times
or a dry streambed:
dry stream.jpg
dry stream.jpg (38.78 KiB) Viewed 1506 times
(note smaller rocks in back)

Basic nature elements are earth, air, water, fire. Earth is of course all around but is represented by stone. Air is represented by prayer flags, banners, those grasses or other elements that move with the breeze. Fire could be a few large candles and then of course the water feature.

If you can manage it, some covered space to sit under would be good, like a simple gazebo. If you can't build a roof, you could use a large picnic umbrella.
simple gazebo.jpg
simple gazebo.jpg (36.42 KiB) Viewed 1558 times
Last edited by rainbowgardener on Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

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rainbowgardener
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(I don't know why sometimes it shows the picture and sometimes it does the not down loaded yet. I have had that trouble before)

Boyscout1234
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Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:43 pm

Thanks everyone. I'll post pictures when I can, I haven't visited the site yet.



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