Everyone has their own taste and some people prefer minimalism over filled up space but ideas don’t hurt. Do they? Who knows, you may go through this 500 word article and find your soul element. Each to their own but in this small guide, we are focusing on cottagecore style like gardens or Hayao Miyazaki’s Ghibli gardens because who doesn’t love them?

Floral scent, running water, moss-covered stones, textured foliage and birdsongs go all the way when looking for a peaceful, colourful and relaxing garden, because you need it and you deserve it.

Plants and flowers for a colourful and relaxing garden

There are so many plants that need to be mentioned here that we are having a hard time processing. The list is endless! You can create a vegetable garden, flower garden, butterfly garden, songbird garden, anything is possible sepending on the type of plants you choose.

A beautiful lawn doesn’t always mean turf grass. Let some grasses, wood sorrel, thyme or chamomile grow.

Choose plants and varieties that adapt well to your climate and zones. Let the sweet-smelling perennials and bushes perfume the space. Day lilies, geraniums, cosmos and lavender deserve a place in every garden. The colorful varieties of dogwood or cheer trees that are lush in summer, flower in spring and fruit too.

Let the wisteria or Boston ivy grow on your house.

The Rangoon creeper whose flower goes from pure white to lush pink and then vibrant red. The sweet-smelling jasmine and honey suckle. Strong blooming clematis or how about a climbing fire lily? How can we forget mentioning about climbing roses? They have so many varieties that are heavenly smelling.

Ornamental grasses are easy to grow and when wind passes through their blades gently, a delicious rustling sound, swaying in the breeze is added.

Plan the garden in such a way that it keeps filled with color all year round. Plant the ones that add color in the summer but also color in winter.

Fruiting trees will attract song birds to your garden. Trees that add color in winter are Japanese red maple, Forsythia, hollies, gingko trees and more. Evergreens are always an available option too.

Although shade is necessary, don’t block the sun, especially the last settling rays. make a cup of tea, go into your garden and soak what the reminiscence of what today’s sun was offering.

Water element for a colourful and relaxing garden

Water features are also a hardscape element but they add so much life into the garden they had to be honorably separated as a heading.

They are particularly calming and visually relaxing. Water features can range from small water features to large ponds.

Small water features such container water gardens, tabletop fountains, or bubbling water containers and urns, are so attractive on a patio, decking or amongst the plants. They are available in so many shapes but the water fountain statues are everyone’s favorite. They provide the pleasant sound of bubbling or running water which add liveliness to space. Just close your eyes and imagine that trickling sound.

Large water features like ponds and large water fountains also add a sense of calmness and peace. You can add color and liveliness by adding koi fishes in the pond. Canna lily, lotus, water hyacinth and water ferns are perfect to plant in the ponds.

Hardscape elements for a colourful and relaxing garden

There is so much that you can add that the list is endless.

Weave foot paths in your garden design. A rock or stone lined path becomes blurred and softened by the addition of mosses and other ground covers.

Seating is a key element. Install benches, rocking chair or simple stone seats that feel cool on a hot summer night.

Fire pits will bring out a Zen-like ambiance. It is perfect to invite your family and friends over for hot chocolate and marshmallows on a winter or summer night, why not add an outdoors grill. Perfect to sit and pass around an acoustic guitar, ukulele, or harmonica or why not all three?

Pergolas and arbors provide a sense of isolation. Vases, flowery carts and wagons, mirrors, statues, stone boulders, wooden logs, you name it.

Remember, the perfect garden is the one that makes an individual happy, cheerful, and relaxed.

The thing is it’s all about you at the end at the end of the day.

Here is a tip: make a section in your diary or note on your mobile phone, wherever you go and find something that you get obsessed with, jot it down. The more time you give your garden, the happier you will be. Another room.

Make something, your own world, a secluded place that gives you peace and tranquility, where you can relax from all the burdens of this tough world.

Peace and Happy gardening!