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Creating a sensory garden

Gardens can soothe and heal, inspire and invigorate. Our senses allow us to experience these different emotions, and in creating a sensory garden you can be the master of how you feel

The warmth of the sun on my face;
the smell of freshly mown grass;
juicy strawberries ready to pick;
hearing the lilting whistle of a morning blackbird;
marvelling at the magic of evening light dancing through delicate seedheads.

Sensory overload

Modern life can sometimes bombard us with information, causing a sensory overload. Many of us find gardening to be the perfect tonic. Whether you have a garden, a balcony or just a few pots on the windowsill, the act of gardening, of nurturing plants, can do many things to help, but by thinking about each of our senses when we garden, we can heighten that experience to make it something even more fulfilling.

Take time to watch the wind and light move through plants such as grasses

Gardeners with any type of visual or hearing loss will tell you that their other senses are heightened, so always consider what is needed for that particular space to engage each of the senses.

Sight 

Colours - light and dark, shades and tones - all play such a crucial role in how plants make us feel. Compare a conservatory filled with lush green foliage plants with the silvery hues of a light-filled gravel garden and they will feel very different. Colour creates mood, be that calm, using harmonising colours, or invigorating, using clashing ones. Personal choice dictates which colours you prefer for your space, but visiting inspirational gardens is the best way to discover your own style.

A lush tropical feel, with the cooling shade of large shiny leaves
Light bounces off pale gravel, and delicate canopies give dappled shade
Playing with sunlight and shadows can create different atmospheres in your garden. If you like to relax and read a book outside you’ll maybe need somewhere sheltered, from both wind and sun. Areas of dappled shade can be made using the delicate spread of a deciduous tree, while an area to keep cool in high summer can be designed using lush, shiny leaves for an exotic look.

In a quiet moment, observe how light filters and dances through the leaves
Sound 

Just as your favourite style of music makes you feel happy or sad, the sounds of a garden can do that too. The sound of water is perhaps the most obvious, but do you want to hear a trickling fountain or a splashing waterfall, one being soothing and mindful, the other a distraction or to invigorate.

Choose water features to suit your mood, whether that be a gentle trickle or an invigorating splash
Sound can be used to mask road noise or noisy neighbours, but plants can also help screen noise. Bamboo has traditionally been suggested, as the swishing of leaves can provide enough distraction from the noise that’s annoying you, but be careful to choose clump forming, non-invasive types.

Bamboo can give height, screening and provide a gentle sound to mask others
Trees and hedges can also successfully dampen noise, as well as increase the biodiversity of your garden, bringing the joyful sound of birdsong, the hum of pollinators and the croak of amphibians, something that RHS Ambassador, and Founder of Grow to Know, Tayshan Hayden-Smith finds joy in.

There’s something so calming about the way the wind catches different textures and forms, grasses particularly, and leaves on waving branches. I also appreciate the sound of biodiversity – the buzzing, the tweeting, and the singing.

Tayshan Hayden-Smith – RHS Ambassador

Taste 

Perhaps the most personal of our senses, is taste. The foods we like and dislike should lead what we choose to grow. From Mediterranean herbs to Indian spices, crispy lettuce to spicy rocket leaves, above all, grow what you love. Many fruits are fairly easy to grow, and fruit bushes, such as blackcurrants and blueberries, can even be grown in pots, and are therefore suitable for the smallest space. 

Chef and author, Emily Scott, has a love of herbs, “They are essential in my kitchen, in my cooking, and in my life. Just having them on your windowsill, or in planters outside your door, is so rewarding, knowing you are eating something you have grown yourself.” Emily was the first woman to cook for leaders of the western worlds at the G7 summit in Cornwall in 2021, a stand-out career defining moment for Emily and the rest of her team.

The scent of herbs is wonderful, and has the power to evoke memories, which, for me, is life enhancing.

Emily Scott, Chef and Author (Credit, Kristin Perers)

With so many herbs to choose from, plant them close to paths or doorways for easy pickings
Carolyn Dunster, planting designer, botanical stylist and garden writer says, “My keenest sensory experience in the garden is scent but this is quickly followed by taste, and to my mind the two are inextricably connected (although science tells us our sense of smell is many times more developed than our sense of taste).

“Linked directly to the limbic lobe of the brain where we also register emotions and memory, scents often evoke past events or places and I have discovered it is possible to capture the scent of my garden in a bottle that then turns into a taste. I make floral waters, syrups, cordials and jams from my flowers and the best blooms for doing this are old roses: Charles de Mills and Louise Odier amongst them.” 

A jam made from perfumed petals and layered between two halves of a Victoria sponge, consumed on a grey January day, has the power to conjure a Proustian moment of summer past and evoke all the pleasure of being in the garden in June.

Carolyn Dunster, Garden designer, stylist and writer

Consider using edible flowers to brighten up your cakes
Smell 

Alongside taste, our sense of smell can bring memories flooding back, many of them of first experiences, such as mown grass, squeezed lemons, and crushed ginger. There are a myriad of plants that have wonderful aromas (and some truly dreadful ones), so try them out and pick your favourites for your garden. Maybe you like the spicy scent of the curry plant, or the citrus of lemon verbena.

Garden Designer, Pollyanna Wilkinson loves how the aromas of many plants are more intense when warm.

For me it’s the smell of tomato and geranium leaves in a warm greenhouse.

Pollyanna Wilkinson – Garden Designer

While roses might be the go-to scent for many garden-lovers, there are a huge number of wonderful climbers and flowering shrubs which have incredible scent, even some that flower in the winter, such as Sarcococca, witch hazel and winter flowering honeysuckle. 

Witch hazel (Hamamelis mollis) is a plant you smell before you see 

Touch 

From the softness of lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) to the silky tassels of a Miscanthus grass, some plants cry out to be touched, so try to plant these where you can easily reach them, along path edges or spilling from pots. Who can resist running their fingers along the fluffy fox tail heads of Pennisetum, or up the spires of fresh lavender, with the added joy of the heady fragrance?

The downy softness of lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) are hard to resist 

I do enjoy pushing my hands deep into the compost heap to feel the warmth of decomposition, especially on a cold day!

James Alexander-Sinclair, RHS Ambassador & Vice President

Many gardeners find gardening, or being in a garden setting, can ease worries, reduce stress and lower their heart rate. Methodical tasks such as

deadheading spent flower heads, trimming lawn edges, and gentle weeding, focuses the mind on the simplicity of the task and allows negative thoughts time to dissipate. 
 

Simple, mindful tasks such as deadheading old flowers can help soothe worries

Gardening together or solo 

The benefits of gardening with others, either as a community group or with friends or partners can help with loneliness, anxiety and depression. Working with others towards a common goal encourages us to feel we have purpose, and the satisfaction of starting and finishing a task can really help with self-doubt.

Gardening with others can help with feelings of loneliness and isolation
You may prefer to garden solo – radio on, cup of tea at hand. Maybe you like to grab a few minutes at the beginning of the day, or as a break from your home desk, or maybe even to escape the noise of family life for a while. However, and whenever, you like to garden, gardening is all about using our senses, and it is these sensory experiences that soothe us. 
 

Mindful tasks for a sensory experience

Growing herbs 

Gentle weeding (where necessary) 

Deadheading spent flower heads 

Cutting and arranging flowers for the house 

Mowing the lawn 

Taking cuttings 

Sowing seeds 

About the author - Natalie Ashbee

Natalie grew up on an arable farm in North Cornwall. She was a Primary school teacher, then started a gardening business, moving into garden and planting design. She spent several years in Bristol, where she was a Horticulturist for garden tv programmes. She now lives and gardens in West Cornwall.

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