What is it like so far?

Good to hear!

What's it look like overall?

Have you thought perhaps about having a Way of the Cross? Some shrines have these.

One can draw inspiration from what some shrines and other gardens have done.

A small pump would not be hard to put in, you could get a fountain or waterfall going when you wished.

I think one could probably get one for $15.00 and make a DIY project out of it, but I haven't tried to do this myself so can't say more. Newer water pumps are quite energy efficient I hear.

Certain flowers are for certain saints.. have a history or blossom on the saints' feast day you could choose flowers with particular meanings.

Only yesterday I was asking the same question, having retrieved from my deceased Mother's home a small statue of Our Lady which Dad had fixed to the side fence, so that Mum could look out and see Our Lady while she was washing the dishes and working at the kitchen sink. Now I have to decide what I am going to do. It is definitely a hardy outdoor Our Lady and of monotone red-ochre colour.

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One thing that's often overlooked is scale and perspective.  

You might tend to put larger items further away and smaller items closer to your point of observation, because smaller things are not as easy to see when they're further away.  This may unintentionally cause your space to feel "cramped."  For some people, that may help them to meditate, but for others, it might induce discomfort and unease, which are distracting and not conducive to meditation.

But if smaller items are in BACK (further away) and larger items are in FRONT (up close), the overall effect is to make the scene appear to be much larger than the actual space you have.  In the extreme case, an area of only two feet wide and three feet deep can appear to be 100 feet deep and 30 feet wide.

So, if you have a small area to work with but you would like it to appear larger, and if you place larger statues up close to your park bench or whatever you'll use to sit on, and smaller statues further away, it might serve to cause the area to appear much bigger than it really is.  This could be a good aid to contemplation, because it would help to REMOVE your concerns from everyday appearances and allow you to IMAGINE something outside your everyday perception -- such as the mysteries of the Rosary, for example.

The same goes for flowers and plants.  Most horticulture guides will tell you that larger plants with bigger leaves and flowers ought to be planted further away from your walking path or garden chair, and smaller plants with smaller leaves and/or flowers, ought to be up close to your path or place of observation.  But if carefully done in the opposite way, the whole area of the garden could be made to appear much larger than it really is, by having larger plants close by and smaller ones further away, as if they were made to appear a lot farther away than they really are, by way of illusion.

An example could be two rose bushes with the same shape and color of roses, only one has large flowers and leaves, and the other has very tiny flowers and leaves.  If you have the large plant 4 feet away from you on the left side, and the small plant directly in front of you but 10 feet away, plus, a grassy path that begins at your feet being 3 feet wide, and curves away toward the right side of the small rose bush and getting narrower as it does, so that as it passes the small roses it's only 6 inches wide (and then disappears over a little hill), you may easily be able to close your eyes and imagine that you are sitting in front of a 50 foot long grassy pathway, when in reality it's only 10 feet long.  But the perspective of large things up close (the larger roses and the wider path) and smaller things further away (the small roses and the very narrow path), makes the whole scene appear to be really big, by illusion.

A more detailed development of this idea would have a type of grass with heavy and broad grass blades in the 3' wide path near the large rose bush, then gradually transition to a very fine and thin grass blade variety, such as is used on putting greens, at the end of the path where it's 6" wide near the small rose bush.  This would make the grassy path appear to be 50' long, even without looking at the rose bushes.  Therefore, when these two elements are combined (along with other things like larger rocks and a large statue up close, and a small statue and rocks far away), the overall effect is multiplied powerfully.

This order of perspective should follow very careful rules if it is to succeed, because one plant out of place could render the illusion ineffective.  So it might not be easy to accomplish, but if it works out, it could be very enjoyable to experience, and could be a place where you will look forward to spending some time.


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That was an impressive post, Neil.  I'd never thought of that & would love to try it if I had the time & money.    

Thorns and brambles on one side, roses and lilys in the other.

To remind you of the difference between sin and grace.

Roses have thorns!

What I was thinking is, who on earth would want to plant thorns & brambles even if only on one side, if you only have a small space?!  No one would want to waste that space.  Even if I had a large space I wouldn't or couldn't plant "thorns' - which isn't even a plant!!  Maybe brambles, since raspberries are brambles & therefore of use.

"Thorns isn't even a plant," eh?  But lots of plants HAVE thorns, Thorn.  Lemon trees have enormous thorns, a lot like the acacia tree (see below).  The thorns used to make Our Lord's crown of thorns was from a cursed plant, the acacia tree, the same tree whose wood was used to build the ark of the covenant:



While the design given to Moses was that the two cherubim were to be made of gold (Exodus 25:18), it is most revealing that the like two cherubim that were made per Solomon’s temple were made from olive wood, overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:23-28).  These cherubim were larger than the original ones, covering much of the area in the inner sanctuary, or the holy of holies.  But in these two olive tree cherubim we see testified that the two cherubim on each side of the ark were in fact the same as the two olive trees.  Thus the pattern of the ark of the covenant and Zechariah 4 are the same thing.





Furthermore, the ark between the two cherubim was itself made of a uniquely different wood – acacia wood. The message regarding this is remarkably striking and revealing, and it is worthwhile that we digress here on its clear significance.  





As we have seen, the ark was the 7, or cursed Christianity, even the afflicted and crucified body of Christ.  Fittingly, acacia bears very stark signs of the original curse – “both thorns and thistles” (Genesis 3:18).





Above, see the acacia tree, that is profusely covered with thorns and grows in the dry and barren wilderness.





Insomuch that the ark is the afflicted body of Christ, the 7, it is equally fitting that the crown of thorns that was placed upon Yahshua’s head came from the very tree from which the ark was made.  From the cursed acacia came forth both the ark and the crown of thorns.





Thus we see that the acacia ark that was between the two golden cherubim, clearly attests to the wilderness period of cursed and afflicted Christianity that separates the two Remnant.  We have also noted that the tabernacle in the wilderness is a type of Christianity, most of which was appropriately made of the same wood.  The bars (walls), the pillars, the table of showbread, the altar, and the poles, were all made of acacia.  In fact, the use of acacia in the Scriptures was unique to this wilderness tabernacle construction.  In contrast, Solomon never used acacia in his temple construction, testifying to the removal of the curse and the wilderness wanderings.



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Not having any thorny plants in your garden could be thought of as signifying your taking sides with Solomon, in rejecting suffering and getting rid of voluntary penance, as our modern world is so wont to do, and is one reason why Pope Francis is so popular, because he shuns suffering as if it is a kind of EVIL to be avoided at all costs.


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