Balcony gardens are commonly built into the living space of high-rise apartment homes.

While not all apartment units have balconies, those that do tend to have a special place in the hearts of many homeowners.

One big reason being that unlike a house with a front or back yard where plants and flowers can be grown, the most sensible place to set up a garden in an apartment is the patio or balcony.

 

It usually have ample sunlight, partially exposed to the rain, and have a nice view to the beyond. The balcony can often be one of the favorite spaces at home where you can relax and have some fresh air.

 

But with the hustle and bustle in a city, the view from a balcony is not always rosy. This is a good reason why setting up a garden in the balcony can sometimes do wonders for feng shui.

 

Generally speaking, a garden balcony is often said to be good feng shui as it connects the energy of a house to the natural energies of the earth.

 

But when we factor in the energy maps and energy patterns of a dwelling, this can sometimes be bad feng shui as well.

 

So is your patio or balcony garden good or bad feng shui?

 

Southwest and northeast

 

In most circumstances, a garden space situated in the balcony is unsuitable if the space is at the SW or NE sectors of the property.

The simple reason being that these two directional sectors are fundamentally of earth element. As wood, which is the element of plants, destroys earth  the Gen and Kun trigrams within the house would be adversely affected by the strong presence of wood element.

This translate to adversity for young men and the matriarch in the household. Love and harmony in the family can also be affected.

Only under certain situations can garden space in these two areas be acceptable. And these would lean towards more choosing the lesser of 2 evils.

For example, excessive sha-qi from the external environment.

 

A View with hostility

 

In urban city areas where apartment buildings are aplenty, there’s always a high possibility that even a dreamy balcony can be exposed to a view of hostile structures or sha-qi such as pylons, water tanks, power cables, etc.

 

These are structures that create very strong negative energy. And it enters directly into your house via the balcony then you are indeed afflicted.

 

In such cases, creating a garden in the balcony can shield the house from the poison arrows with the plants and small trees acting as a barrier to entry.

 

While this can cause a conflict of the energies if this is set up in the southwest or northeast, it would still be a lesser evil compared to being under constant attack from hostile external forces.

 

With the help of a feng shui expert, you can also minimize the negative impact by having the garden in the balcony. One such tip might be to bring in the presence of fire energy to harmonize the conflict between earth and wood.

 

However, if you are living in an apartment home where there’s a window to the balcony, then setting up other types or barrier remedies ( such as screens, curtains, etc) for defense against the external sha- qi can be sufficient.

 

This protects the home, but also avoids the conflict of energy between wood and earth.

 

In some way, it is similar to why plants at the front door are at times recommended to homeowners.

 

What are the Best locations

 

If we assume that there are no negative forces ( sha-qi) from every directional view, then the best locations for a garden setting in the patio or balcony is the East and the SE

 

This is because these directional spaces have a strong base of wood element.

 

The East in particular is the home of the dragon, and the irregular shapes of plants can erect the presence of a green dragon can bestow the household with good fortune and good health.

It would be even more ideal if the East is on the left side of the apartment facing or the left side of the main door.

This is due to the left side being the original space meant for the azure dragon in the theory of land forms and the four celestial creatures. 

 

In Flying Stars Feng Shui, the placement of plants can be good when the space or sector has the favorable green star 4 or purple star 9

 

The Garden as a cure

 

There are lots of methods used in feng shui to remedy or cure harmful energies attacking a home.

 

In some scenarios, a garden at the right place (such as the balcony) can act as an elemental cure to subdue these harmful energies.

 

These circumstances usually prop up when negative energy is coming from a Northern direction

 

This is because the energy base from this direction would be water. And wood energy harnessed from the garden would exhaust the strength of the sha qi.

 

Another situation might be when there is a Flying star 1 that has gone uncontrollable. This is uncommon since star 1 is a white star that is generally auspicious. However, when it’s afflicted, wood energy has to be used to weaken it’s strengthen to cause chaos.

 

Since the white star is usually a good star, one should only use wood to control it when assessed by an expert.

 

Bazi and Destiny Analysis

 

In Chinese astrology, Bazi and Purple star are the most widely practiced forms of destiny analysis.

 

Bazi in particular, can sometimes deduce that an individual requires more wood element to achieve balance in his or her metaphysical make-up.

 

In this case, some feng shui practitioners can suggest that flowers and plants are placed to enhance the wood energy of the premises.

 

For example, a person with a weak Jia Daymastar born in the season of autumn would be strengthened by the element of wood. Thus, having more plants in his or her surroundings can help to boost the strength of the self-element and enable the individal to take on more wealth luck.

 

For basic zodiac readings, the animal signs of wood element are Tiger and Rabbit 

So those with these two zodiacs would reap the most benefits with the presence of gardens, Particularly when they are situated at the East or SE sectors of the home.