Gardening
for the Senses
The Sensual Garden
Larry Caplan
Extension Educator, Horticulture
Vanderburgh County, Indiana
While many gardeners
choose plants for their visual beauty some chose plants that stimulate
the other senses. The following suggestions and plant lists will help
you choose plants that cater to your senses of taste, smell, touch, and
hearing.
A Garden You Can
Taste
Fruits, vegetables,
and some herbs are perfect for stimulating your sense of taste. As long
as you're not spraying your crops with pesticides, you can munch your
way across the garden any time during the growing season. If you do spray,
check the label to find out how soon you can safely re-enter the garden,
and when you can harvest the crops. Sprayed crops should be thoroughly
washed with water before eating.
Vegetables that are
brightly colored when ripe, such as golden zucchini squash, red leaf lettuce,
and purple-podded beans, stand out from the surrounding green foliage
and make harvesting easier for the visually impaired gardener. Tomatoes
and strawberries soften slightly and turn bright red when they are ripe.
Peppers, peas, beans, and leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach
are ready to pick when they feel large enough. The soil can be pushed
away to check on the progress of root crops, like carrots and radishes.
You may want to grow bush-type varieties, so you don't have to search
long, tangled vines for your produce. For more information, refer to HO-32,
Home Gardener's Guide.
Nasturtiums have a wonderful
peppery taste to both leaves and blooms. Mint is very refreshing to chew,
and you can plant dozens of types of mint: not only the spearmint and peppermint
everyone is familiar with, but apple mint, orange mint, and many others.
Many herbs can be used for cooking and easily grown in the home garden.
Be certain that you know what herbs you are eating: some very popular herbs
and flowers are considered toxic! For more information on herbs, refer to
HO-28 Herb Gardening.
A Garden You Can Smell
Every plant has its own scent.
Different scents can subtly alter your mood, and your garden can help
you take advantage of this. Try to create different "rooms,"
or pockets in the garden. An area surrounded by the scents of lilacs,
roses, or lily-of-the-valley is a relaxing place to set up a hammock or
lawn chair.
Some heavy scents, like honeysuckle,
jasmine and wisteria, can make you feel sleepy, while herbs such as lavender,
rosemary, and lemon verbena energize and invigorate you. A stroll through
a section of culinary herbs, like oregano, sage, and thyme, will often
help whet your appetite.
Some fragrant plants release
their scents when they are touched or crushed. Herbs like chamomile or
creeping thyme can be used as groundcovers for pathways, and will release
their fragrances as you walk across them. Different herbal paths can lead
to various "rooms" in your garden. People using canes, or who
otherwise are at risk of falling, may not want to use scented ground covers
for pathways.
Scented geraniums and other
aromatic herbs can be planted along pathways, and will release their scents
when touched by garden visitors. Raised beds can be planted with fragrant
ground covers, providing an aromatic resting area.
As you discover the wonders
of the scented garden, you may feel the urge to keep adding to your collection.
You should try not to use too many scented plants together, however, because
their different scents tend to blend together and become confusing. If
you garden with the different "mood rooms," as described above,
you can include many more scented plants because they will be scattered
in different parts of the garden.
The following
lists show some
fragrant plants that are available. Some of the fragrant trees and shrubs
listed are not winter-hardy in Indiana; however, they make excellent
houseplants,
and can be moved indoors for the winter if they are kept in containers.
A Garden You Can
Feel
Our sense of touch can make
the garden an exciting place to explore the different plant textures.
Place plants with interesting textures in a small, enclosed garden with
comfortable garden seats. Garden beds raised to a height of two feet and
constructed with edges to sit on bring touchable plants within reach.
There are many different textures
that you can include in the garden. Some plants have soft, fuzzy leaves
or flowers, like lamb's-ear, woolly thyme, and pussy willow. Many ornamental
grasses, especially hare's tail grass, have fluffy flower heads. The blossoms
on some plants, such as hibiscus, gardenia, and most lilies, feel silky
to the touch. Blossoms of statice and globe amaranth have a papery feel,
as do the seed pods of honesty (also called the money plant). A list of
plants with interesting textures can be found at the end
of this publication.
A Garden You Can
Hear
The sounds that a
garden makes can create subtle moods in visitors. The whisper of weeping
plants, such as willows and birch, has a calming influence. You may want
to add wind chimes, a bird feeder or water features to your garden. The
rustling of ornamental grasses and bamboo can create a sense of excitement
and activity, and make excellent audio signals to help gardeners orient
themselves. The accompanying list suggests just a few plants you may want
to include for their interesting sounds.
Summary
The garden is a magical place,
and should be enjoyed by everyone! For more information on gardening,
see the Purdue University publications as well as these selected references:
Janeen R. Adil. Accessible
Gardening for People with Disabilities. Woodbine House, 1994.
Gene Rothert. The
Enabling Garden: Creating Barrier-Free Gardens. Taylor Publishing
Co., 1994.
Kathleen Yeomans.
The Able Gardener. Storey Communications, 1992.
Lynn Dennis. Garden
for Life. University Extension Press, Univ. of Saskatchewan, 1994.
Fragrant Plants
- Fragrant Trees and Shrubs
- Butterfly Bush Buddleia
davidii
- Citrus*, Citrus
sp.
- Daphne, Daphne
sp.
- Frangipani*, Plumeria
sp.
- Gardenia*, Gardenia
jasminoides
- Jasmine, Jasminum
nudiflorum
- Lilac, Syringa
sp.
- Mock Orange, Philadelphus
sp.
- Rose, Rosa
sp.
- * These plants are
not considered hardy in Indiana. If you wish to grow these, you may want
to treat them as potted houseplants, and move them indoors during the
winter.
Fragrant Vines
- Clematis, Clematis
sp.
- Climbing Rose, Rosa
sp.
- Honeysuckle, Lonicera
sp.
- Jasmine, Jasminum
nudiflorum
- Passionflower, Passiflora
sp.
- Sweet pea, Lathyrus
latifolius
- Wisteria, Wisteria
floribunda
Fragrant Flowering Plants
- Basil, Ocimum
basilicum (many cultivars)
- Beebalm, Monarda
didyma
- Chamomile, Anthemis
tinctoria
- Heliotrope, Heliotropium
arborescens
- Hyacinth, Hyacinthus
orientalis
- Lavender, Lavandula
angustifolia
- Lemon balm, Melissa
officinalis
- Lily, Lilium
sp.
- Lily-of-the-Valley,
Convallaria majalis
- Mint, Mentha
sp. (many cultivars)
- Peony, Paeonia
hybrids
- Pinks, Dianthus
sp.
- Sage, Salvia
sp.
- Scented Geranium,
Pelargonium sp. (many cultivars, all with different scents)
- Stock, Matthiola
incana
- Thyme, Thymus
vulgaris
- Violet, Viola
odorata
Fragrant Ground
Covers
- Chamomile, Anthemis
tinctoria
- Sweet Woodruff, Galium
odoratum
- Creeping Thyme, Thymus
serpyllum
- Woolly Thyme, Thymus
praecox
Plants to
Touch
- Cape Jasmine, Gardenia
jasminoides
- Cockscomb, Celosia
cristata
- Feather grass, Stipa
pennata
- Gay-feather, Liatris
spicata
- Globe Amaranth, Gomphrena
globosa
- Hare's Tale Grass,
Lagurus ovatus
- Lamb's ears, Stachys
byzantina
- Lily, Lilium
sp.
- Love-lies-bleeding,
Amaranthus caudatus
- Mullein, Verbascum
sp.
- Obedient Plant, Physostegia
virginiana
- Poppy, Papaver
nudicaule
- Pussy willow, Salix
discolor
- Rose mallow, Hibiscus
coccineus
- Squirrel-tail grass,
Hordeum jubatum
- Statice, Limonium
latifolium
- Woolly thyme, Thymus
praecox
- Wormwood, Artemisia
sp.
Plants to
Listen To
- Animated Oats, Avena
sterilis
- Balloon flower, Platycodon
grandiflorus
- Bamboo Many species
- Chinese lantern plant,
Physalis alkekengi
- Honesty or Money Plant,
Lunaria annua
- Pampas grass, Cortaderia
selloana
- Pearl Grass, Briza
maxima
Trees to Listen
To
- Birch, Betula
sp.
- Pine, Pinus
sp.
- Poplar, Populus
sp.
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Garden Flowers 
