Hello! I am a new student to Feng Shui. We purchased a house last year. The site we chose is on a hill overlooking our town facing north. The property slopes to the north/downhill and is surrounded by a chain link fence. Should I plant some trees in the left hand corner of the property to enhance the wealth and prosperity? I have chosen "Silver Dollar Eucalyptus" for that corner. Also should I plant bushes, trees, and or shrubs along the back of the property to keep the chi from flowing down hill or is the chain link fence enough?

1. To clarify, that means that the back of your house is a hill instead of at the `left hand corner' of the house.

For a house, it is good to plant trees to the back of the house (especially if it is sloping). As for trees on the side of the house, provided your garden is large, you can plant some trees. But do avoid planting too many trees or large ones at the West or North East or South West part of the house. Trees should ideally be planted on the East (at the Green Dragon or Yang side).

The reason for avoiding planting trees at North East is because under Feng Shui, it is considered the `Devil's gate". To find out more about the Devil's gate go to this URL: ../fs/gate.htm

At the same time, the South West area is considered the Devil's backdoor and planting too many trees or large trees could inadvertently attract ghost spirits to `live' there. While the West side is considered a Yin location or (the White tiger) and planting too many trees may create a `too' yin environment again may also attract `spirits'.

It is also not too auspicious to plant a large tree in the front (main entrance) of the house as this may affect beneficial `Qi' from entering the house.

For houses on a hill it is best not to have the house at the top of the hill but rather in the mid-point of the hill. Too high and without protection (trees for example), the house is at the `mercy' of the elements. While houses just below the hill may be affected by soil erosion (should there be `deforestation' or heavy floods.

Cecil Lee
Center for Feng Shui Research
January 1999