Jane explores a wellbeing garden and learns how clever design can create a calming space for quiet reflection. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
Nestled within the cool oasis of the Fern Gully, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Victoria has created three spaces designed for meditation and for “contemplating your connection with nature or connection to life” says Landscape Architect Andrew Laidlaw. As visitors follow the often-busy Fern Gully boardwalk, the Wellbeing Gardens give the opportunity to leave the main path, stop, pause and reflect.
The gardens were created thanks to funds donated by three supporters, who each had stories of lost loved ones. “We designed the gardens with those people in mind, but the gardens are for everybody,” says Andrew.
To create a sense of ‘wellbeing’ the spaces feature four elements: Green, water, sensory engagement (through plants, textures, sounds or feelings), and symbolism.
Andrew adds that diversity is also a key feature: “The detail in the planting is really important in these meditation gardens. There are tests now being done that show that if a garden has lots of different plants, that really adds to the person’s experience and to their health and wellbeing.”
The Moss Garden:
A small, circular space, covered in soft mosses and ferns that create a damp and peaceful atmosphere. The donor lost his wife and daughter in the same year, so Andrew designed a small wellspring garden that represents eternal life with water coming out of a stone. There are also three sculptural stones placed around the wellspring, which represent the three members of the family.
The Birds Nest:
The circular space includes a hanging seat shaped like a chrysalis, designed by artist David Wong, and it is enclosed by a woven fence that gives a sense of being securely cocooned. This is reinforced by the strong buttress roots of a dominant Moreton Bay Fig tree that hosts epiphytic ferns and orchids. “It’s like the tree of life,” Andrew says.
The garden was sponsored by a woman in memory of her aunt, who had loved birds, and plantings include Bird’s Nest Ferns and plants from the aunt’s garden.
This space is a particularly popular garden with younger visitors and couples.
The Grotto:
The area is again roughly circular, with a water feature and enclosed by a metal sculpture that mimics an overhanging branch. There is a stone grotto, symbolic on many levels, and tucked away among the stones are pieces of salvaged broken crockery, relics left by visitors from the days when china plates were used for picnics. “The donor lost her husband, and he was very passionate about all the stones and rocks that came off his property, so we built a grotto garden for him,” Andrew explains. The design team went to the effort of transporting stones from the property to create the textured wall.
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