I have a large wind chime that the longest pipe is 6' tall. The pipe is 3" stainless steel.

It makes a lovely, slow, mellow sound, and I do love it. My husband built it for me.

I wouldn't like one made of an oxygen bottle, I don't think.

We have all the other sounds too, and a waterfall in the back yard. We also have the sound of our neighbors dogs, all 5 of them barking, barking. They usually shut up when I bang that wind chime.

Janie

I love the sound of wind chimes, have several out in the garden, which reminds me one needs restringing. DH gave me a lovely gong style wind chime for Christmas, too nice to put outside unless I can find a protected spot for it.

Annette

Wind Chimes help you find your CHI.
In the philosophy of Feng shui, it is believed that their melodic tones empower healing of the spirit and the body. The vibrations help release stress and help you center and find peace and calm. They bring about a feeling of well-being. Their lovely melodies drive away negative influences and attract positive influences.
I have lots of wind chines - a variety of sizes and styles. Some I bought, some I was given, and some I have made. Some have tiny pipes and some have medium-large sized pipes. Most are metal with wooden or ceramic clappers, but a few are ceramic and bamboo. I have one that has roosters with camel bells hanging below. Flower pots chimes and junk chimes with metal scraps and old nails as clappers. I've made them out of drift wood. They have a soft, earthy sound that I love. Colored bottle bottoms make pretty wind chimes. Sea shells and drift wood look good and sound like the sea.

But I would LOVE to have one of those deep basal-toned wind chimes. I found one I want at my favorite /nursery. It costs around $400. (I "play" it every time I go there to buy plants or just look at the plants.) My nearest neighbors are 1/8 mile away. I am sure the sounds carry a long way down through the canyon across the road, but no one around here complains. On severely windy days, it is almost deafening, but the rest of the time, they are soothing. Everyone who comes here tells me that they love coming here because they get a sense of well-being and peacefulness. They love being in the natural surroundings and listening to the chimes.

~ Annie

When I lived in the city some of my neighbors had chimes on their patios, I never did. On a peaceful weekend morning when I worked in the yard I found it pleasing to here the light tinkling sounds that they made. I thought for a long time that I would like to have one of my own. Now, living here on the ranch there are so many other sounds to listen to that I'm not sure I would like the distraction. I've thought that if I do get a chime I would hang it out a ways in the wind break so that the sound drifted in to me as it always did in the past and perhaps I would still be able to hear the sound of the wind, birds, cattle and other critters all around me.

MeMo

I have a wind chime that was given to me as present and I've been unsure whether to hang it outside or not. Does it scare the birds away, do you think? I wouldn't like that, as I love to have the birds around and I do get quite a lot of them. I'm also not sure whether I would like their sound to camouflage the normal sound of the garden, but I suppose I could give it a try and see how I like it.

Annie, I know next to nothing about Feng Shui, where would you say it's the best location to place one in the garden?

What an interesting topic!
Eduarda

I have a triple L shaped lot in town, so my garden is small. On my front porch, I have a wind chime tuned to some of the notes to Amazing Grace. As the wind blows, you can pick up the song from time to time.

'La Forza del Destino' (The Force of Destiny) is on the back porch and I LOVE that one. It is so sweet and melodic. My favorite. You can definitely pick up the tune. I keep it there near my kitchen so I can hear it often. (I leave them all out year round, to the dismay of DH).

I have a base ÂGÂ that is about 6Â-7Â tall. It has a low, resonate sound. Since itÂs so heavy, it doesnÂt ring often. (I give it a nudge every time I walk by) The sound from that one reverberates for several minutes. NICE!

I have a gong type in a little grove of Japanese maples. I need to get it in a more open area so it will gong more often. I think I want to add a tinkling one there, but a pleasant tinkling sound is hard to find.

I have a lot of neighbors. One of them is a truck driver so he isnÂt home much. Another one is just cool about everything. The rest annoy me with yelling at each other and dog barking and any sound from my garden is just to drown out the noise they makeÂ

But I do love wind chimes. IÂd like to get an Aeolian harp; but they are very expensive and I canÂt talk myself into that. There are three OLD churches within a few blocks of me with steeple bells that ring at different times. I suppose if a person didnÂt like ringing, they wouldnÂt move into this neighborhood. (IÂve never had a complaint, BTW - that would be another story) I try to position them to be local sounds in the garden so they donÂt interfere with another chime. IÂm sure that helps with the neighbors as well. Plus - I share veggies and flowers - you know - buy them off!

I never choose a windchime for what it looks like. I try to keep them subordinate in the garden so you don't see them. (Except for the gong!)

I love a wind chime- but it's so hard to find one that is perfect on the ear...there are SO many that just don't have the right sound, or are pretty annoying in the wrong setting. To me, my light, airy garden in full sun would warrant something with a high pitch...one of those smaller ones, whereas I think the low toned bigger chimes would be very nice in a shaded, forest-y type nook.

It's all subjective for me.

I love wind chimes, and agree with Annie - they add to a good Feng Shui. There is one that I bought (invested in :)), and was told that it is a "Cadillac of windchimes". It sounds very beautiful and pleasant, not just a noise, but a lovely sound that is pleasing to the soul.

Eduarda,

In Feng Shui, windchines are most often hung near the entrance of a shrine or temple (or your home), to invite in prosperity and attract positive energy.
Windchimes near a water feature is good Chi or hanging from the limb of a fruit tree, an evergreen or some kind of colorful or flowering tree. Little tinkling sounds for trees and gardens...bigger deeper sounds are generally placed near buildings.
You do not want your windchimes to mask the sounds of nature, but mingle with them. Mine do not overpower the lovely calls and songs of birds, the rustling leaves in trees, the gurgling sounds of water, the hum of bees...

If you have any other questions about garden elements of Feng Shui, just email me.

~ Annie

I love wind chimes that sound good. The cheap ones you can buy that are mostly for looks, are horrible in my opinion. The noise, is clangy, tinny, and really hard on the ears. I have one made by a friend of ours, that sounds very nice, he made it. I have one DH found, in an empty field. It's about 3' long with longest pipe and has a deep melodious sound. I have another one by Corinthian Bells, that is about 29" long and has a higher, sweeter tune. We got that in Toccoa, GA. when we went through there on vacation. I had gone to boarding school there in the mid 60's. DH bought me this wind chime as a momento, and every time I hear it I feel love and happiness.

I agree with what Annie said about wind chimes ~ it is believed that their melodic tones empower healing of the spirit and the body. The vibrations help release stress and help you center and find peace and calm. They bring about a feeling of well-being. Their lovely melodies drive away negative influences and attract positive influences.

I have smaller ones made with seashells and I love the way they sound also. Our neighbor has a nice tinkling one that I can hear when I'm out front.

I think windchimes are a wonderful addition to gardens. They don't make music all the time, sometimes they make gentle sounds, other times they are more robust, depending on the wind.

I would love to have one made of glass pieces like there used to be around when I was a kid. They had a really nice delicate sound, but I haven't found any yet.

FlowerLady

I like wind chimes. At night in bed I can tell it is windy because of my Corinthian Chimes. I think it is a pleasant sound. I like the large deep sounding ones but wouldn't spend the money. That huge one in the picture is overkill.

I love my wind chimes! As for scaring the birds, it doesn't happen, in fact I have a two sided shepards hook, a finch feeder on one side, my chimes on the other. The finch feeder is always full of finches!

Jenny P

Okay. I'll be the odd man out.

I hate wind chimes. To me, they sound so alien in a garden. I'd much rather listen to wind rustling through the leaves, the birds chriping and the bees buzzing.
Of course, to each his own.

Libby

Seems most people like them. I do too, at times. The past 3 days, it's been sort of windy here. The chimes by the front door have been going nonstop since at least Wednesday morning. With this old house, it's hard to tell what the weather is like outside. I can't hear a typical rain storm. Wind rarely makes a sound.

But out in the garden itself, I don't have any. I hear the ones by the door if the wind blows the right way.

Last night I was inspired. I took a piece of fence post that I got from my dad for the birdfeeder. It was just over 6' long. I chopped it up into 3 different length pieces, drilled holes in the top and hung it from a piece of mahogany I had left from a previous project. It's got a nice deep tone. I wish the pipes were longer for an even deeper melody. I think I want to hang it way out back in the corner of the woods. It takes a lot of wind to make it move.

Someone gave me a smallish wind chime that had a paper inside that said it was tuned to the opening notes of 'Amazing Grace.' Every time there was a brisk wind, I was hearing the song children used to sing in Bible School: "I may never March in the Infantry, Shoot the Artillery [ forgot the next lines ] But I'm in the Lord's Army." After a while I stopped noticing whether it played a tune.

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I hung a little chime with monkeys on it in the greenhouse near the elephant stool and planters and the yellow ceramic parrot. It only chimes when I bump into the epi tree when I'm watering.

Nell

Eduarda, Feng Shui a Chinese methodology of bringing elements together to create harmony - earth, wood, metal, fire and water. Feng shui literally means "wind water". If one has too much of one element it's said to cause disharmony.

For example ... a kitchen has two natural elements, water and fire. If you were to paint a kitchen red (a fire color) one would have too much fire (bad harmony). Paining it a green color would bring in an earth element, a good thing because earth creates wood, wood creates fire, fire creates metal, metal creates water.

A garden has earth and water. Adding a metal object brings harmony and placed correctly can chase away bad vibes. Over the door or next to a sharp object (corner of a house) or hung in a tree. It won't scare away the birds. My birds sometimes hang from my wind chimes.

There's lots of books out there and great info on the internet. It's a lot of fun. Donald Trump uses Feng Shui in all his hotels and casino's.

I love wind chimes, but they have to be musical... the little cheap ones are hard to endure, and there are so many of them out there.....

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I bought these for my Mum in Alaska. In the house that I grew up in, she put wind chimes up, and the idiot across the road complained that he couldn't sleep. Weak vessel. I brought these for her in the new house, cause she took care of Midnight!! God love her. Now they are at my house. They are all copper pipes.

My neighbour just up the road at big ones, that sound like temple bells - it takes a fair wind to tickle them, but I love them...

Nancy.

I have two small wind chimes. One by the guest parking spot. Another in the willow that serves as the corner between the butterfly garden and the front garden.

Cameron

I'll cast my vote for them also! I have several in my garden, but because of its small size and the amount of enclosure they don't get very much wind so I only hear them occasionally. I have one that is quite tiny and makes the most beautiful sounds.....I have that one on my porch so I CAN hear it when it catches the breeze.

My sister has a very Asian style garden and although she doesn't follow Feng Shui in the strictest sense, she has a bamboo wind chime that makes the most amazing, deep mellow sound!

When I was growing up my mom had one of those little glass wind chimes you could find at the Oriental import stores hanging in the patio outside my bedroom window. I used to fall asleep listening to it. One night, she, my older brother and I went to see a movie....'Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte' with Bette Davis. If you remember, this was a pretty scary movie and I was at a very impressionable age. Anyway, there was one of those same wind chimes in the movie and it would always be tinkling when something terrifying was about to happen. Of course when we got home and I was getting settled for the night, my brother had to go mess with our wind chime to give me a huge scare!! Hearing one of those to this day....decades later.....still makes me shiver.

Like scents, I think certain sounds can be very evocative and they can most definitely trigger memories!!

I don't follow Feng shui as a way of life, but I do have all the elements present in my gardens and house by pure coincidence.

My gardens unconsciously reflect my many cultural & ancestral backgrounds:
Cherokee, Swedish, Irish-English, Spanish, Welsh, Scottish, German, French, Dutch, Hindi, and Portuguese, the first four in bold type, having the most influence in my life.

~ Annie

I switched my image hosting site, so am testing it by posting a pic to this wind chime post. If it works, you should see the little chime that hangs in my lilac. Every once in awhile I'll forget it's there and hit it with my head when I walk through here. Makes me smile every time.

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I don't have any in my garden - but all of the ones I've heard are the cheap annoying ones, so I know I wouldn't want them. I'm not sure if I would be ok with the deeper sounding ones or not, tbh.

The wind chime in my photo looks bigger than it actually is. It's also falling apart, the cords routinely rot and break and I just knot them back up.

I remember the glass chimes, too and had a couple of them. A co-worker gave them to me years ago - consisted of small glass squares with Chinese symbols painted on them and a metal pagoda top that held the strings. They were little,too.

Thank you for bringing this up, token. I have completely forgotten about it! I should hang one or two wind chimes in my garden! I have one hanging at my front door, it gives off very soothing sounds.

Xuan

Wow! That's quite a wind chime!

I love them & have them throughout the yard. I think they're wonderful.