Down the Garden Path: Engaging the Senses with Sensory Gardens

Gardens are unique green spaces that are carefully curated with select varieties of plants to achieve a certain purpose. Vegetable gardens, kitchen gardens, tea gardens and herb gardens all are designed with the intention of growing food.

Formal gardens, Persian gardens, cactus gardens, or other specialty gardens are intended to create a striking ornamental display. Meditation gardens, butterfly/pollinator gardens, therapeutic/healing gardens, and woodland gardens are designed to be a bridge between the human experience and the natural world.

Another unique garden type that is becoming increasingly popular is the sensory garden. These gardens highlight plants with the purpose of appealing to human senses. The plants are meant to be enjoyed in a variety of ways including being touched, smelled, heard, felt, and even tasted.

Designing Sensory Gardens

Sensory gardens are highly adaptable and can be incorporated into any setting. They can cover a large area with winding paths, alcoves for reprieve, and can incorporate water features. They can also be created in containers which work well in urban areas and can also be moved between indoor and outdoor spaces. Sensory gardens are a wonderful addition to any healing garden as they benefit all ages and abilities. Sensory gardens are common in children’s gardens, hospital/health care gardens, meditation gardens and memory gardens.

Sensory gardens are generally divided into sections by the sense they are appealing to. Native plants are a great source for plants intended for sensory gardens. These resilient plants thrive with little maintenance, giving more time to enjoying the garden than tending it. Using native plants also allows for your sensory garden to be eco-friendly and pollinator approved!

Think Touch and Texture

Unlike other types of gardens, sensory gardens usually incorporate touch as a featured element. They encourage visitors to be hands-on and explore different textures.

· Cottonwood, Populus deltoides

· Corkscrew willow, Salix matsudana

· Ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris

· Common yellow woodsorrel, Oxalis stricta

Select for Sounds

Some plants are surprising noisy! Plant sounds are usually activated or enhanced by the wind, so be sure to consider this when designing your garden. Water features, trees, or wind chimes can also add sound to a garden. Native plants will also attract birds, increasing birdsong within the garden.

· Blue wild indigo, Baptisia australis

· Indiangrass, Sorghastrum nutans

· Rattlesnake master, Eryngium yuccifolium

Take on Taste

For safety, if a sensory garden does include plants meant to be tasted, be sure they are clearly labeled and set aside from other plants that are not meant for consumption.

· Pawpaw, Asimina triloba

· Red mulberry, Morus rubra

· Wild strawberry, Fragaria virginiana

· Anise hyssop, Agastache foeniculum

Be Smart about Smell

The human sense of smell is strongly linked to memory. Smell can be an engaging way to focus attention, soothe, calm and be mindful.

· Prairie dropseed, Sporobolus heterolepis

· Northern spicebush, Lindera benzoin

· Prairie sagewort, Artemisia frigida

· Wild bergamot, Monarda fistulosa

· Mountain Mint, Pycnanthemum virginianum

Excite the Eyes

Color plays an essential in our sense of sight, and sensory gardens incorporate color as a main component in their design and layout. Be sure to select plants such that the garden remains colorful year-round.

· Golden Aster, Heterotheca villosa

· Narrowleaf sunflower, Helianthus angustifolius

· Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea

· Black-eyed coneflower, Rudbeckia hirta

· Cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis

· Red osier dogwood, Cornus sericea

Want to learn more? Check out the University of Illinois Extension’s Sensory Garden factsheet and news release. For help selecting plants for your garden, see the extensive resources provided by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center plant database, or connect with your local Illinois Extension county office at go.illinois.edu/ExtensionOffice.

Karly Tumminello is a certified Master Naturalist volunteer with University of Illinois Extension in DuPage, Kane, and Kendall counties.