Five Wisdoms of Garden Design

by Jen on

Garden design is excessively influenced by the traditions and cultures of the east. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the Western world or in the Asian region, you know that when it comes to gardens, you have to look at the Japanese garden designs and the Chinese Feng Shui.

Then, there is also the principle of the Five Wisdoms of the Tibetan Buddhism. Basically, it wants to harmonize our understanding of one’s relationships to life. The Five Wisdoms are Passion, Richness, Activity, Clarity and Spaciousness.


Passion speaks to how much you want a garden in your life. It has to invite you to the garden by simply looking at the arbor, gateways and pathways leading to the garden. It has to have a sense of invitation that entering the garden would make you feel loved and in one with nature. Your garden should have a sense of passion in every corner.


Your garden should have a rich experience through colour and texture, earthiness, scents and a sense of place. You can create richness through mounded beds, layers of plantings, yellow and golds, depth and multiplicity of experience.


If you want to achieve clarity in your garden, it should have organization, perspective and lines. The different elements of the garden should balance each other out. To have clarity, your garden should have manmade structures, delineation of paths or the edges of beds. Clarity can define the garden’s space and shape.


How effective is the garden’s design in accomplishing its practical functions? It should be designed in a way that would cultivate the growing of all plants there. It should be easily maintained, and the layout should accommodate the changing seasons. It should also be able to accommodate species such as birds, bees, dragonflies, and a variety of insects, squirrels, chipmunks, spiders and frogs.


Spaciousness is the overall element that all other principles operate. The qualities of the Five Wisdom should be well balance within the space that the garden would provide. The role of the designer is to create a spaciousness that would look like the garden can accommodate anything, and that it has infinite possibilities.

Written by: Jen