Creative, Celebratory Experience of Nature and Ancient Customs

[Randy Eady]

 

Engage younger and older people in gardening by constructing a labyrinth from flower bulbs.

The labyrinth can provide a unique, facilitated alternative to traditional playground activity, and the process promotes planning, collaborating and sustainable community connection.

Organize a planting, and enjoy the labyrinth as a temporary and beautiful construction that can be mowed after the bulbs have flowered.   It is a unique, low maintenance, creative, celebratory experience of nature and ancient customs.

 The bulbs in this picture are a mix of daffodils, tulips and grape hyacinth, selected to provide a relatively long season of spring-flowering bulbs.  Numbering over 14000 bulbs, violas are also embedded into the labyrinth where flower bulbs will bloom next spring, marking the edge of the paths to the center of the design.



A substantial undertaking  can be scaled to age/ability approriateness by writing secret messages or simpler designs using bulbs planted into lawns or flower beds.  Such as this Crocus heart arrangement. 

 

Labyrinths take up space, but you may be surprised to learn you can fit a three-circuit or path design in a circular space with a 10-foot diameter. 

A labyrinth this size would have a two and a half foot center and 15 inches for the combined path and lines.  A typical seven-circuit labyrinth is 30 feet in diameter with a seven and a half foot center and 19 inches for the combined path and lines.

When deciding on the space you want to use for your garden labyrinth, consider the effect of light and seasonality on the location.



Studies consistently show walking a labyrinth encourages symmetrical hemisphere activity in the brain (which helps support limbic brain function) promotes a calm focused attention span, and mentally, physically, emotionally refreshes children, youth and adults who walk the path.

It's a natural nexus of history, math sequencing, philosophy, and even architecture. . .

Discover more at:

On the Ground, in the Wild, a Path to Inner Peace - NYT article featuring labyrinths and the inner peace they can bring.

Public Spaces Meant to Heal - NYT article on the healing powers of gardens in general and labyrinths in particular.

http://www.easichi.koshareyrhythms.com/functionalpath/labyrinth.htm

Please feel free to contact me for a copy of my Labyrinth Gathering Presentation:  Primal Rhythms – Designing a Garden Setting for Therapeutic Continum of Movement, Randy Eady 

[Amanda Speer]

Several groups in Oroville have created labyrinths for the public to walk.  I love the fact that the healing power of the garden is cultivated in this ancient pathway.  I have a stone circle in my backyard that is graced from time to time with feathers and acorns~ I consider them totems, natures way of saying "Have a great day!"