Planting a Good Mood Garden

Beautiful gardens have a way of making you feel more optimistic, hopeful, and cheerful. Neglected ones, on the other hand, can bring annoyance and all sorts of negative feelings.

It’s good to know how to take advantage of the arrangements and colors of plants and flowers and the emotions that are attached to them. The power of a well-tended garden should not be underestimated - they can affect our mood and state of mind, after all.

Learn the psychology of colors

Some colors are so entwined with certain emotions that you can’t help but react to them. Red, for instance, can stop you in your tracks or else ignite passion and excitement. Blue can bring about either a tranquil feeling or sadness. Green can soothe or remind you of hospital walls. While studying the psychology of colors can give you a general sense of what they evoke, your personal reaction to them is what’s important. This, in turn, can help you plan the kind of blooms, fruit, and garden accessories to have.  

Identify your ‘trigger’ hues

Do you have a favorite hue that makes you happy no matter what? This color can be your default theme when planning your garden. Even if it doesn’t exist in nature, you can always paint or buy a garden accessory such as a table, bench, fountain, rubber mulch, or fence in that color. On the other hand, if you don’t like a particular color, avoid having it within view. When you look out your window every morning, you would want to see a garden teeming with hues that make you happy, not put you in a bad mood.

Create cool and warm flower beds

Blues, greens, and purples are part of a cool color scheme while reds, oranges, and yellows make up a warm one. Having both schemes in your flower beds can balance the intensity of the warm colors with the soothing effect of the cool hues. Carefully plan where to put flowers and fruit-bearing plants from the two color schemes. You can either put them in rows or layers, like you would with bunches of forget-me-not flowers above a red rose bush. Or you can choose an all-warm flower bed made up of sunflowers, zinnia, and other brightly-colored blooms, but place them in light blue or lavender pots for visual balance.  

Place accents with your pick-me-up color

As previously mentioned, your favorite color doesn’t have to be found in nature. You can still use it as a garden accent, though. A bright purple lawn or patio chair, a bubblegum pink flamingo statue, and other accents can make your garden truly personal. If you want a clean look with just touches of color, you can keep the rest of the garden accessories and tools neutral with whites, beiges, or greys.

Get creative with shapes and forms

Resources:

http://www.slideshare.net/fifthroom/liven-up-your-home-garden-with-color-psychology

http://www.bhg.com/decorating/color/color-affects-mood/