Do You Know the Secrets to a Sensory Garden?

Cover image tranquil garden with a pond in the background with a yellow circle showing black graphics for the 5 senses: eye for sight, nose for smell, ear for sound/hearing, mouth for tasate, hand for touch

How does your garden grow? Honestly, I don’t have much of a green thumb, but I revel in the natural world around me. Consequently, I’ve been intrigued by the trend for sensory gardens.

What’s a Sensory Garden?

Sensory gardens are designed to specifically engage our senses and be a safe, comfortable environment for enjoyment and wonder. They are purposefully made accessible for anyone. Such gardens can be therapeutic, healing, and a great place for socializing in open air.

Everyone has unique sensory needs. With such a wide variety of factors, a garden might be a new idea to help someone with the sensory input that suits them. Some gardens might be better than others to accommodate particular interests or avoid certain triggers.

Women with IDD wearing sunhats and planting flowers together in a community garden

Public Sensory Gardens are popping up as free resources in our communities, as well as in some health care organizations. Consider if a visit is right for you or someone you support.

Some people choose to build sensory gardens in their own backyards. Will this be your next project, for yourself or someone you support? If you are thinking about starting one you might ask: what kind of things are found in these gardens? Let’s break it down by our senses.

Woman with IDD in wheelchair gardening outside her home

Components of a Sensory Garden

Sight

Sight is the most traditional feature when considering a garden. Use different plants for their color. Warm colors convey passion and activity while cool colors create a calm, peaceful atmosphere. Plants also come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and textures. Indeed, visual appeal goes into other elements too. Think about the pathways, benches, raised plant beds (another useful accessible feature), and even sculptures or mirrors found in gardens. Ask the experts for what flowers attract butterflies and birds. One source told me butterfly weed (Ascelpias tuberosa) will entice monarch butterflies to visit.

If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.
Frances Hodgson Burnett

Hearing

Some sound will come naturally like the wind rustling leaves, tall grasses, or even some seed pods rattle if shook. To ensure that the garden isn’t entirely reliant upon bird visitors to bring their songs, some sensory gardens have wind chimes or trickling water fountains and brooks. I found one UK hospital included built in outdoor instruments like xylophones, bells, and drums for visitors to play with for fun or therapy.

Touch

Immediately what comes to my mind is soft fuzzy lamb’s ear (or as the experts say Stachys byzantine). As a child, I declared this the best in my grandma’s garden as I loved rubbing my fingers on the velvety leaf. (I still would if I had access to such a plant.) Touch in a sensory garden is all about texture and safety. We don’t want roses in this section because of their thorns. Avoid anything else that is dangerous like the poisonous variety. Instead, try to get a variety of mosses, feathery grasses, furry leaves, and soft foliage’s.

Smell

Ah! Taking a deep breath in the clean outdoors can be relaxing for anyone. When the air is perfumed with natural floral scents, it can be delightful, even relaxing. Think scents such as pines, fresh-cut grass, or mulch. Remember various herbs like mint, rosemary, thyme, lemon, or lavender. Of course strong scented blossoms can also be included as long as they aren’t too close together. Hyacinths and lilacs were recommended. I vote purple lilacs, not only for their color but their perfume is sweeter than the white.

Taste

Last but not least, taste is a particularly grand section for your home garden. Many public gardens will include blueberries and raspberries. However, when you build your own you could have as big of an edible garden as you want. Think strawberries, cucumbers, carrots, or any combination of fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Pennsylvania Resources

Want more ideas to start a sensory garden? Check out Penn State’s article: extension.psu.edu/creating-a-sensory-garden

Pennsylvania is still in the budding stages of Sensory Gardens. However, you can find some to visit. Check websites and call ahead to make sure the garden is available for your planned visit. Here are a few I discovered.

Allegheny County

Gardens at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, Pittsburgh https://www.upmc.com
Northland Public Library, Pittsburgh www.northlandlibrary.org
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, Pittsburgh (entrance fee) https://www.phipps.conservatory.org
Pittsburgh’s Botanic Garden, Pittsburgh (entrance fee) pittsburghbotanicgarden.org
Rooftop Sensory Garden at UPMC Mercy Pavilion, Pittsburgh, https://visioninstitute.eyeandear.org
Sensory Nature Trail, Frick Environmental Center, Pittsburgh https://pittsburghparks.org

Armstrong County

Vandergrift Community Garden, 284 Franklin Ave. Vandergrift (The garden is paid for, planted, and maintained by volunteers. They added a sensory section in 2021.) https://triblive.com

Blair County

Legion Memorial Park, Hollidaysburg https://www.discoverygardenpa.com
Sensory Garden, Penn State, Altoona https://altoona.psu.edu

Butler County

RLA HeartPrints Sensory Garden (off of parking area), Cranberry Township https://www.therla.org

Chester County

New Leaf Sensory Garden, Kennett Square https://brandywineredclay.org
Treehouse World Sensory Garden, West Chester https://treehouseworld.com

Clarion County

(Similar outdoor resource) Cook Forest Sensory Trail, Cook Forest https://discoverclarioncounty.com

Dauphin County

Five Senses Garden, Capital Area, Harrisburg caga.org

Lancaster County

Garden of Five Senses, Lancaster https://co.lancaster.pa.us

Lycoming County

Lycoming Sensory Garden, Montoursville https://www.facebook.com/Lycosensorygarden/

Philadelphia County

Wynnewood Valley Park Sensory Garden, Philadelphia phsonline.org

Find more places to visit at https://www.visitpa.com. Get involved or find other accessible gardens via Western PA Conservancy waterlandlife.org. Don’t forget that Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Indiana, Lawrence, Mercer, and Venango counties have many public parks and gardens, even if they aren’t specifically sensory gardens. Check them out; you don’t want to miss the accessible, wide green world outside your door.