Gardens have been an age-old natural remedy to relieve stress and enhance mood. Thus, they have become even more imperative in city living, where more and more urbanites are planting pockets of greens in their own individual spaces to reap its many benefits.
However, in shaping your gardens, have you found yourself limited by space? Now, do you know you can literally expand your horizons and incorporate them into your planting plot — cost-free?
Yes, you borrow them — interest-free. And mind you, there is nothing unlawful about it.
The fact is, “borrowed scenery” or “borrowed landscape” is a concept that integrates a background landscape into the composition of your garden.
Originating from China and termed “shakkei”, this technique migrated to Japan, influencing Japanese gardens from as early as 794 A.D. The concept is simple — to “borrow” a distant view or backdrop from the surrounding landscape (such as mountains, lakes, streams, meadows or trees) and merge it into the garden configuration to create a sense of greater space.
Eventually, this ancient East-Asian gardening technique crossed borders and countries, taking root as the blueprint for extending garden vistas by capitalising on the natural beauty of the surrounding environment. In his book The Garden: Elements and Styles, Toby Musgrave stated, “Some of the greatest horticulturalists look towards the horizon when reworking the ground beneath their feet”.
Surviving the test of time, this traditional practice is still being implemented as an underlying design concept in the contemporary era of urban living. And even if your backyard or balcony does not have the luxury of either ample size or stunning views of natural landscapes, you can still create the “shakkei” effect by taking advantage of a city skyline, interesting architecture or any other attractive focal point to form and extend visual interest.
So, let the inspiration unleash your creativity and “shakkei” up your potting plot, be it through blending elements of the surrounding sights or even simply borrowing a bit of scenery from your neighbour’s garden to enhance and elevate your own sphere. We are sure they won’t mind.
Tips to sharpen your “shakkei” skill to make a garden appear larger or to create a tranquil nook
Study the distant scenery around your garden or balcony.
Pay attention to the colours and textures that catch your eye, including views that you would rather not see.
Select the elements you would like to borrow.
After evaluating your surroundings, choose which scenes you would like to bring into your space.
Extend your space by creating continuity.
Mimic elements in the distant landscape to create a sense of bigger space through visual association.
Bring focus to what you want to borrow by framing visual scenes using both structural and plant elements.
This could involve planting or building something to obstruct part of a view or, conversely, removing or trimming something to lend focus to what remains.
Bring “shakkei” indoors.
Introduce similar elements from the external landscape into your home like a grouping of potted plants or pebble stones.
