All gardens should be sensory experience, but sometimes we make a special effort in planning a garden to stimulate some senses, one should remember that some people need extra help in appreciating gardens.

This is often majoring on scented plants, which can be lively and romantic, full of roses, lilies, and rich tones. Aromatic shrubs like Rosemary Lavender and Salvias need the midday heat to draw out the oils from the leaves which scent the air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They can can also use scents which are produced during the damper air of the evening with Nicotiana Honeysuckle and stock as highlights, with light coloured blue cream and white flowers which glow in the twilight.

 

 

 

Sensory gardens can also be created which have tactile qualities which appeal even for those with little sight or sense of smell. Soft hairy leaves of Stachys lanata ( Lambs ears) are loved by children and adults as they are eminently strokable, and few can resist running their hands through the soft grass of Festuca tenuisimma much of the current appeal of grasses is the light coming through the seedheads as they wave in the lightest breeze. The sound of rain and wind passing through leaves gives extra interest and the ‘white noise’ created by wind through Bamboo or Poplar leaves is useful to blank outside intrusive road noise, increasing the sense of place and isolation.

Bright colours especially the autumnal shades of orange red and yellow show up well in the low angled sun. Some people have trouble distinguishing subtle tones so a blast of strong saturated colour is cheerful lighten the heart as the days shorten.