How to Design a Sensory Garden
A sensory garden utilizes all five basic senses to engage the visitor in unique ways. Horticultural expert Sarah Jay talks about concepts for designing these spaces!
Contents
Creating a sensory garden is a rewarding experience, no matter the reason. Upgrading an existing garden to include sensory elements is just as beneficial, enhancing the space for everyone who enters it.
Whether you’re working in a public-facing garden or one in your backyard, incorporating sensory elements is easy. Engaging all five senses not only enriches the experience but also deepens your connection with the plants and natural elements around you.
Let’s explore sensory gardens and what goes into them. We’ll take a brief look at their history and discuss how you can plan and implement your own sensory space at home or wherever you garden.
What is a Sensory Garden?
A sensory garden is a space that includes not only sensory plants but also elements that engage all five senses—sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell. Many sensory gardens are designed to make gardening more accessible to people of all abilities and backgrounds, often serving therapeutic purposes as well.
Any garden can be a sensory garden. These spaces are designed to be inviting, encouraging visitors to engage more deeply with the plants and features within.
The History of Sensory Gardens
Sensory gardens were initially developed for individuals who are hard of hearing, visually impaired, or experience mobility challenges. Since their inception, the concept has evolved significantly. Today, sensory gardens focus on inclusivity, offering inviting spaces with elements that stimulate both individual senses and multiple senses at once for all visitors.
Many modern sensory gardens are designed specifically for children. With growing awareness of autism, these spaces have become even more valuable, particularly in public outdoor areas. Sensory gardens provide calming, soothing experiences for people with autism, helping to create a sense of comfort and engagement. By looking at excellent examples of public sensory gardens, we can find inspiration for incorporating sensory elements into our own domestic spaces.
Who Benefits from a Sensory Garden?
As we briefly mentioned, sensory gardens enhance the well-being of everyone who experiences them. They are especially beneficial for individuals with learning disabilities, as tactile stimuli play a valuable role in therapeutic interactions, particularly for children with autism. Engaging all five senses ensures that those who rely more on certain senses can still fully experience the garden, even if they have difficulty with one in particular.
But when we ask who benefits, the answer is simple. Everyone benefits.
Sensory Garden Considerations
Before we talk about designing a sensory-inclusive space, let’s cover the different elements in the garden. Of course, plants are paramount. Those chosen for a sensory-driven design should include layers of sensation while being non-toxic and non-allergenic. Visitors shouldn’t have to worry about getting chemicals on their hands when they touch the plants, nor should they have to worry about allergens.
Choose plants suited to the climate and soil, placing them so they can thrive. Happy plants make happy garden visitors. This also applies to the larger features of the garden. How will they delight and engage you, your friends, or other attendees?
Consider hardscaping elements like paths and seating. Think about adding texture not just in items hands will touch but also in pathways. Create a safe space by minimizing sharp corners and tripping hazards while designing your sensory garden.
Using All the Senses
Let’s discuss the five senses and include examples of how to incorporate sensory stimulation for each in your garden space.
Sound
In the larger garden features, enhance sound through the pathways you design. Crunchy gravel, the reverberation of feet on stepping stones, or the smooth glide over pebbles are excellent ways to engage the sense of hearing. Leaves crunching underfoot signal seasonal changes, while bird feeders attract birds whose calls add a natural soundtrack to the space.
A water feature with consistently gurgling or trickling water provides a soothing auditory experience while also supporting birds and insects. Bamboo clackers (sometimes known as deer scares) introduce an intermittent sound element that adds to the garden’s atmosphere.
Certain plants also contribute to the garden’s soundscape. Ornamental grasses swish in the wind, while strawflowers produce a papery popping sound when their petals are rubbed. Ground cherries and unopened balloon flowers have a crinkly texture and sound. Trees with large, broad leaves create varied tones as the wind moves through them. Perhaps the most recognizable sound elements are wind chimes or bells, offering peaceful, sonorous tones as they sway in the breeze.
Smell
When choosing plants, consider not just their visual and auditory elements but also their scent. Herbs are excellent for this, as their rich oils produce unmistakable fragrances and provide a safe sensory experience without allergens. Chocolate cosmos offer striking visual appeal along with a scent reminiscent of chocolate. Lavender is another great option, providing a relaxing aroma for visitors. Some trees also have lovely scents in their needles, bark, and sap.
Beyond flowers, herbs, and trees, scent can be incorporated through larger features. Raised beds warmed by the sun release a subtle aroma, illustrating what healthy soil smells like. The same goes for a compost pile. Cedar wood chips could be an option as well, though cedar allergies are more common.
The smell of a wooden fence or a water feature with plants growing in a designated area provides a light scent, giving visitors an idea of how a healthy riparian environment smells. Even animals incorporated into the garden, like chickens, goats, or rabbits, bring their own scents.
Touch
Including plants with interesting textures, like woolly thyme, rosemary, or the soft leaves of lavender, promotes sensory engagement while also helping visitors learn to identify and use them. Incorporate a variety of textures, from ornamental grasses and succulents to tropical plants placed under large trees, which often have a distinctive rubbery feel. Tree bark also varies by species, offering another tactile experience for those learning about plants.
The rough seedpods of purple coneflower provide seasonal stimulation, especially for visitors who may have touched the flower while it was still in bloom. Feeling the difference between various seeds is another great way to engage the sense of touch. On the softer end of the spectrum, lamb’s ears remain velvety throughout most of the year.
Textured foliage is valuable, but so is the contrast between the border of a flower bed and the soil within. Plant leafy stems next to woody ones to provide a tactile comparison. This is an excellent way to engage and stimulate garden visitors. Vegetables with waxy skin can be touched before and during harvest, while an accessible water feature adds another immersive sensory element.
Taste
Directly related to smell is taste. If you’ve grown anything for food, you know this is one of the best parts of gardening. Allowing visitors to taste vegetables and edible plants in the garden is both fun and instructive. Flowers like nasturtium provide a spicy treat along with stunning colors.
Herbs are an obvious way to engage the sense of taste, but trees like western flat cedar and citrus also contribute, with their flavorful leaves. Chocolate mint is a great way to stimulate both smell and taste.
Create an herb garden surrounded by edible flowers and lettuces, grouping all the edible foliage in one area. Include herbs like lavender, thyme, oregano, basil, and a variety of edible flowers. Design an edible plant area around a water feature to not only show how foliage adapts to water-dominant environments but also highlight differences in texture.
Consider how each plant interacts with the taste buds of different visitors. Think about how edible flowers or herbs might be spicy, sweet, astringent, or bitter. Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) flower annually, attract pollinators, and offer a small, flavorful snack along the way.
Sight
This might be the easiest part of building a sensory garden. Using plants with flowers in energizing or soft colors—or a combination of both—is an excellent way to dazzle the eyes and engage visitors. Choose plants with foliage or blooms that maintain visual appeal throughout summer, or select varieties that change significantly across multiple seasons.
Think about every level of your design. If you need a border for pathways or a striking ground cover, creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum) is an excellent option. When paired with Echinacea purpurea, it creates a stunning monochromatic display. Both plants thrive in various climates and produce impressive lavender blooms.
Plants that attract external visual elements, like butterflies and birds, enhance the sensory experience. Some flowers not only provide a vibrant display but also entice pollinators with their scent. Designing a garden specifically for monarch butterflies, for example, not only supports pollination for nearby vegetables but also educates visitors about the pollination process.
Similarly, planting shrubs that attract birds or produce seeds they enjoy offers both aesthetic and ecological benefits. Birdlife and butterflies add movement and color while providing insight into the local ecosystem.
Consider how to enhance visual interest with water features and pathways. Use different colored materials and plant flowers that accentuate or contrast with the pathway. Butterfly weed or Echinacea purpurea can bring pollinators right to the paths visitors wander. Succulent stations featuring plants like sweetheart hoya, with its heart-shaped leaves, offer a glimpse into the fascinating variety of botanical forms.
Building Your Own Sensory Garden
Now let’s talk about how you can create your sensory garden. We’ll walk through the process of planning to implementation in short form so you can get started as soon as you’d like.
Planning
Draw out your blank canvas, whether on paper with pencil or in a digital format like our Garden Planner. Before adding elements to your design, take time to consider how you want to use the space. Are there large features that require significant planning, or are you simply enhancing the existing garden with more stimulating plant life? Do you need to remove any poisonous foliage or section it off to keep it inaccessible? Should you create pathways, or would hanging wind chimes be enough to add sensory interest?
Once you’ve determined the purpose of your space, incorporate those elements into your design.
Acquisition
Make a list of the items and materials you need to acquire to put your sensory garden into effect. This includes large feature elements like stones, gravel, dirt, soil, and even plant life with flowers that make the experience invigorating and exciting. It could also include the tools you need to get the job done.
Implementation
Then write a list of the tasks you need to complete. If you’re working in public, consider eliciting help from volunteers or employees of the organization you work for. Or if you are working on your home garden, invite your friends to help you knock out each task. Start with the large construction projects and finish up with planting.
Maintenance
Finally, keep the space in good condition so it remains inviting to those who will visit.
Pathways should remain free of tripping hazards. Plants kept in good condition are inviting to people and wildlife alike. Keep up a pond so it doesn’t get overgrown with algae. Prune each tree appropriately, and remove any weeds that overtake an area as needed. Harvest and remove vegetables and fruits as needed too. This will help your space remain stimulating, and energizing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a sensory garden include?
It should include elements that focus on all senses. It could be heavier in one sense based on who is most likely to visit.
What is a sensory garden for dementia?
It’s a garden focused on sensations that stimulate memory. Not only is being outdoors great for people who live with dementia, but it also increases the quality of sleep and self-worth.
