From Natural Garden To Nature-Conscious Self-Leadership

Every morning and evening - and in fact, whenever I need a pause or a breath of fresh air, especially when I want a new perspective on a task or issue - I can now step outside into my garden, just a few steps from my home office. What a luxury it is to have a natural garden at home - such a precious, and quick, source of healing and of light energy.

This garden is the result of several years of imagining and wondering. At first, one page in Isabella Tree’s book, The Book of Wilding: A Practical Guide to Rewilding, Big and Small, visually captured my heart.

pp. 408-409

I thought, looking at the left top photo, "this is exactly like where my garden is today… but I want to turn it into a more natural one like the one on the right side!"

We had a reasonably comfortable garden that we had inherited from the previous owner of the house we bought 7.5 years ago. It was neat and had some elements that reminded me of home - Japan, with a kaede (maple) tree, even a cherry tree at the very corner in the back, which I did not even notice as sakura for a while. We turned a pond with koi fish into a flower bed some years ago after some attempts of fixing the leakage and giving it up.

Flower bed that used to be a small pond

We gradually added more things that suited our preference, like planting fuji (wisteria), for example. But I was not happy with the fact every spring I planted colourful flowers and had to repeat the cycle all over again the following year. I wanted a garden which I could leave through the seasons. In short, I wanted something more natural.

Realising that a Japanese woman I knew for spiritual connections was actually a gardener (she enlightened me about my liking and connection to Agapanthus - the flower had the meaning of "environmental healing, balancing Earth's energy, and resolving global-scale issues" according to some source), which truly resonated with me.

I jumped to ask her to design our garden. But she politely declined and said, "Chizu-san, you need someone who knows Dutch soil and the local environment, who can advise you by looking at your garden - how the light falls, what the soil is like." And then she introduced me to a book by Piet Oudolf.

A beautiful book full of ideas on perennials

Looking through the work, I realised - yes! - "perennials" were exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to let the plants go through the seasons, to grow and wither, following their natural cycle. I wanted to just let them be. I loved the pages and pages of natural gardens in this book.

Another year or two passed before I finally contacted some planting designers, towards the end of last year, thinking, "if I do not do this now, another spring will come and a year will pass by." Two visited the garden, but I immediately felt a good energy from Femke. Her love for all living things was so obvious. I asked her to design our garden.

She visited several times, listened to me curiously and deeply, asked about my preferences, examined the soil, the way light falls, which parts of the garden face which direction - and what that means in each season. She presented ideas, initial sketches, and asked for my thoughts. I really enjoyed having her home - I felt we would be soon getting there - a natural garden.

Femke, the planting designer, and her at-work photos

Her final design arrived just in time for spring. And with that, we had no more excuses to postpone the hard work. We began removing tiles and stripping the lawn layer. It was liberating - unearthing the unnatural surface and revealing what lay beneath. I felt like I was disturbing countless ant homes and whispered apologies: "What we're doing may actually be better for you, so please bear with this disruption."

Tiles being removed - liberating!

After that, first a large amount of earth arrived. We laid it on the ground, flattened it out, and laid some of the brick tiles to make a path according to Femke's design. At the end of April, it already started to give such a radiant look. I utterly gasped at the look from the new bench at one corner of the garden made of some large tiles piled to give a curb and restful corner in the garden. 

A view from the new "bench" - amazing!

At the beginning of May, hundreds of plants arrived and kept me busy planting. Days of sore muscles and total fatigue followed - but it was the kind of exhaustion that somehow refreshes you from the inside out. A strange, energising feeling.

When the plants started to grow, slowly...

From May, June, and July - every day, I walked around in the garden, anticipating, wondering, checking, and doubting. Does this even work? Maybe we should have chosen different species of plants. Maybe our garden soil is not good. Maybe I planted them the wrong way. Well, if you look at the same thing every day, you would not really notice the change it may be making.

Now, in the middle of July, every morning, I look forward to opening the curtains. I open the window, walk down the little path, and spot new, tiny faces in different colours. I say hello to so many bumblebees, occasional dragonflies, and butterflies.

Here is what we have now... I can spend a long time just watching this.

I believe in nature’s power to heal and restore. Though most days I get buried in books and papers, eyes glued to the screen during the day, I know one step outside home will relieve me of stress for a moment, and restore my sanity. That is why I go out for walking, cycling, or jogging, almost every day. Thankfully, I live in a suburb of The Hague, close to a natural water park where I can catch such a beautiful scenery.

A view from the nearby park

Even before making this home natural garden project, I had always been able to see green from my office window. That alone is a huge blessing. Now, I even have a sense of relief - with a garden filled with plants mostly native to the land and organically grown, I may be making a small contribution to biodiversity.

On a personal level, this has been a revelation. But what about the professional level?

This, too, is a step forward in my practice - as a coach, facilitator and an educator who aims to not only live and work in alignment with nature, but put that into my practice. I've always been, more subtly perhaps, a coach who uses nature metaphors in sessions, practices outdoor coaching when opportunities present themselves, and a climate (change) coaching. But it had been modestly and not so visibly.

Having a natural garden at home feels like it is encouraging me to walk my talk more confidently and clearly, being more grounded in the mission of mine - walk with and support persons and organisations that strive to make a more peaceful and healthier world. 

With that alignment, I will launch, in mid-August, Nature-Conscious Self-Leadership Circle.

And this is not a one-off. I am committed to gradually reorienting all my activities - whether coaching, facilitating, or learning design - around values that appreciate the wisdom of nature and respond to the urgency of the climate and ecological crisis.

I hope you'll stay tuned and walk with me as this evolves! 

Heavenly...!