LIVING GREEN requires us to make conscious choices about how we build and live in both our homes AND in our gardens. Some fairly simple techniques were incorporated in the garden design for Wes and Jenny’s LIVE GREEN Renovation Project. The techniques are so simple that any gardener can use them. They include:

• IPM (Integrated Pest Management) is pest control that uses the most environmentally-friendly tools as the first line of defense. Don’t spray chemicals unless you know there is a pest problem. Sometimes picking them off your plants is most effective. Use of natural predators such as ladybugs and praying mantis is ideal. When unsuccessful, sun oil or horticultural oil will smother bugs with no adverse effects to nature. IPM uses chemical control only as the last resort.
• Rain gardens capture water runoff in a depressed area planted with bog type plants such as iris ensatta, cannas, and hibiscus to absorb and slowly disperse water.
• Proper bed prep involves tilling in at least 2- 4 inches of compost and soil conditioner into native soil prior to planting, then mulching to hold in moisture.
• Observation of the 50-foot setback from Lake Norman restricts fertilizer hungry lawns and downspout drains directed into the lake. Rain barrels and cisterns are used to collect rainwater for irrigation use instead.
• Use of drought tolerant and native plants requires less water and fewer chemicals to create beautiful spaces.
• Recycling of existing materials and reduction of non-porous paving materials contributes to a greener world. We hope to implement an open cell spaced paving system for the new driveway, or combine slabs of the old concrete with grass.

Stayed tune for more as we watch Wes and Jenny’s garden grow!

Jan Enright Feamster Landscape Design is located in Mooresville, NC. Jan has 18 years of experience designing and installing creative gardens. Her designs have been featured in Southern Living Magazine and Perennial Magazine. Jan can be reached via email at jenrightgardens@yahoo.com or by phone at 704-663-0500. You can also visit her website at www.creategardens.com

Continuing from our previous Feng Shui conversations, this month we will focus on the fourth element, Earth.

The fourth element of transformation in feng shui is Earth. This is the ground of earth, so its shape is square or rectangular. On the bagua it is found in the Relationship corner. Earth energy is “grounding” and provides stability and a sense of foundation. The colors of the earth element are earth tones like brown, rust and chocolate, but the classic color is pink. Pink is the color of Love, and the earth element represents love – love of the earth and of those with whom we have intimate relationships.

As you look at a house from the outside, you’ll see that the basic shape is probably rectangular, with some fire aspects (rooflines) on top. If a house is painted brown or earth tones, this adds more of the earth energy. A brick house is considered very earthy because the bricks are clay, of the earth, and their shape is rectangular. A person living in a basic rectangular home with low rooflines will probably feel very grounded, or it will help an ungrounded person become more stable.

A person with a lot of earth energy in them tends to be a caretaker, like Mother Nature. However, if a person has too much earth energy he or she will take care of everyone else and ignore their own health; too little earth is the person we say as having their head in the clouds.

You can add earth energy in the form of rectangular furniture, painting a room earth tones, hanging square pictures or other geometric forms, or even adding dirt itself by bringing in a zen garden (a square or rectangular one), which has sand in it. And, if you feel the need for more grounding in your life, get out and walk or lay on the ground, hug a tree, or plant some flowers. Nature is excellent grounding energy – and good feng shui!

Next month we will continue our study of Feng Shui. If you have any questions along our journey, please do not hesitate to contact me.

--Valerie DeLong combines her business sense and unique creative style, seeking to enrich people's lives and businesses on a more powerful and intimate level. She is a Reiki Master in the Usui tradition and has studied Kinesiology, Hellerwork, and other body-mind therapies. Valerie can be reached by email at valeriedelong@earthlink.net or by phone at 704-502- 8814. www.fengshuiconcepts.us

• Pippin Home Designs featured in local and regional publications for the Project: Live Green Groundbreaking and Blessing Ceremony.
• Pippin participated in the NAHB Design Institute as a Design Volunteer. Pippin and other designers worked with builders to create design solutions in areas such as First-Time Buyers, Move-Up Buyers, Empty Nesters, Small Lots/High Density.
• Pippin participated as a panel member during the Achieving Sustainable Green Design session at the 21st Century Building Expo and Conference in Charlotte, NC.
• Pippin awarded with the Honor Aurora for her Italianate design in the National Concept Awards.