Nature can heal us with its offering of peace. Just by being surrounded by nature, we can come back to the present and go beneath the mind’s anxious activity. A garden or landscape can be a co-creation of humans with nature. The garden can highlight the parts of nature that resonate the most with us, whether it be the peace of a simple scene such as a birch glade with an understory of ferns, or whether it be the mind intoxicating visual essence of color of a summer meadow densified into a cottage garden.

The ideal garden is a microcosm of a larger natural or cultural landscape that resonates on a deep level with the garden visitor, allowing the visitor to feel or contemplate peace. The task at hand is to insert the essence of a large landscape into a smaller space. Peaceful Valley Gardens offers designs to fit just about everyone’s idea of a peaceful landscape. For instance, some people like a natural look, some a formal look, some a meditative feel and some a surprising look to their landscapes. Designing is done in concert with the local ecology by bringing out the site’s inherent characteristics. For instance, if the area is dry and surrounded by tall trees, then a shade garden using plants that require little water is created.