When we think of gardens, we tend to first think of how they look. And while understandable, our gardens offer so much more – even if you didn’t deliberately intend it to! Perhaps your garden has a babbling stream running through it, or a scented rose bed. Maybe you find yourself trailing your fingers through that block of stipa grass, or eating gooseberries straight from the bush. In other words, you probably already have a garden with sensory elements. In this blog post, we’ll be exploring sensory gardens in more detail, including their benefits and makeup.

Jump to:

• What is a sensory garden?
• Sight
• Touch
• Taste
• Smell
• Sound
• Who benefits?
• Sensory garden ideas for schools

What is a sensory garden?

A sensory garden is one that engages as many of the senses as possible, as opposed to simply looking beautiful. It will often feature tactile plants and edible components, as well as fragrant flowers and ways of creating sound, such as windchimes, water features, ornamental grasses that rustle in the wind, or songbird-attracting trees and shrubs.

The idea is that you’re presented with a veritable smorgasbord of sensory delights. It’s also worth thinking about what kind of space you’re looking to create; do you want your garden to stimulate and excite or soothe and calm? The answer to this will subsequently inform the kinds of plants, layouts and concepts you utilise.

The best plants for each sense

The world’s your oyster when it comes to designing a sensory garden, with the most important thing being that you design the garden with its user(s) in mind. Individualising a sensory garden to the wants and needs of those interacting with it is critical for its success, and the plants you choose should be a reflection of that.

Sight

Let’s start with the obvious one. You still want your sensory garden to look nice, even if you are placing a greater focus on the other senses!

Colour

If you want your garden to be more visually stimulating, then bold pops of warm colour are a good bet (we particularly like crocosmias, echinaceas and rudbeckias for this purpose). If you want your space to have more of a calming effect, then cooler purples, pinks and whites are the order of the day (consider lavenders, salvias, delphiniums and geraniums).

Shape

Another way you can create visual engagement in a sensory garden is through mixing up the shapes of plants you have. Again, if you’re looking to create a more tranquil, peaceful space, then simplicity and uniformity tend to be more relaxing than a space with lots going on.

Think of it this way; what’s more likely to instill an inner calm – a block of gently blowing grasses planted en masse, or a higgledy-piggledy mix of tall, short, fat and thin plants? It’s likely to be the former. Conversely, if you want a garden that excites, then the latter is probably preferable.

Touch

Implementing tactile elements within your sensory garden is easy to do, with textures running the gamut from rough, coarse bark (mature oak trees, for example) to velvety, smooth leaves (like angel wings).

Textural components don’t need to necessarily be limited to plants, either. Perhaps your garden is going to include a retaining wall, for example. You could construct that wall from a matte, smooth concrete or make a flint wall, with a rough, uneven surface. Of course, you should always ensure that any feature you include in your garden is safe and doesn’t pose any risk to the garden’s users.

Taste

Who doesn’t love walking into the garden and getting the fastest of fast food – homegrown produce. Whether you grow fruits, vegetables or herbs, anything you can pick and eat is a great way to get those tastebuds tingling.

Plus, tending to these plants (or any plants for that matter) can prove a very mindful experience, as well as helping to give a sense of purpose and meaning (something which can be pivotal for the elderly – particularly those suffering from dementia).

Smell

Getting the olfactory apparatus (that’s the nose to you and me) activated is another critical aspect of any good sensory garden. There are a huge number of plants you can consider to add fragrance to your garden, including honeysuckles, clematises, star jasmines and sweet peas.

Sound

Last but not least, it’s time to get the ears involved. At first thought, you might wonder how much you can actually do to a garden to integrate more sound, but the reality is that there are many ways that sound can be explored and utilised.

Our very favourite method is trying to introduce the sound of running water; fountains, artificial streams (or a real one if you’re lucky enough to live by one) and cascading water walls all evoke a meditative state of mind with the repetitive sound of moving water.

Planting a range of shrubs and trees that are known to attract birds is another way you can “bring the noise”, so to speak. Rowans, crabapples and birches are all brilliant trees to encourage more visiting birds, while on the shrub side of things, elderberries and sea buckthorn offer excellent food and nesting sites to birds.

You can also use bamboo to make natural wind chimes, while the upright culms and foliage will rustle charmingly even when planted normally, and not in chime form. Alongside their highly tactile nature, many ornamental grasses also make a lovely sound when swaying in the breeze.

Who benefits from sensory gardens?

In short, everyone! Sensory gardens can be beneficial to anyone who visits and interacts with one, however there are certain demographics that perhaps derive particular benefits from them. People suffering from dementia, for instance, can have positive memories evoked when using such spaces, while autistic children who are hyposensitive (typically underwhelmed by stimuli) can benefit from having all of their senses stimulated in a safe, fun and engaging manner.

Sensory garden ideas for schools

Sensory gardens in schools utilise the same principles as any other sensory garden, but will often build upon the core foundations with the inclusion of other educational and interactive materials. They might feature fixed chalkboards, xylophones, reflection panels, sandpits, water trays and much, much more. Incorporate these alongside bug hotels, “mud kitchens”, wildflower meadows, raised beds, fragrant herbs, etc. and you’ll have yourself a brilliant sensory space in an educational setting, great for special educational needs (SEN) and non-SEN children, alike.

Final thoughts

A well-constructed sensory garden is a thing of absolute beauty. Such spaces provide immeasurable benefits for SEN children, dementia sufferers and those struggling with their mental health. But we can all make the most of these spaces, and using our five senses is, in fact, a well-recognised mindfulness practice, so if you’re looking for a means to improve your wellbeing, then designing a sensory garden is a brilliant idea. If you want some more general information on garden design, be sure to check out our guides.