The Sensory Gardens:

What is a Sensory Garden?

A sensory garden uses specially selected plants with the desired sensory qualities and other landscape elements to stimulate the five senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. A sensory garden is designed using traditional design principles but in creative and fun ways to elicit the desired sensory experiences.

Sensory gardens are both healing and restorative because they promote an individual’s health and well being and employ the restorative value of nature. Sensory gardens were first conceived for people with special needs but are now being extended to people of all ages and abilities.

Sensory gardens for children promote the importance of the natural environment in the daily experience of children and help them regain contact with nature. Two popular forms of sensory gardens for children are sensory pathways and keyhole gardens, both of which have been incorporated in our Garden. Sensory gardens provide diversity and promote discovery and exploration. A sensory experience is achieved through journey and by interacting with the garden. Our sensory garden is the foundation of all our Garden Programs. Through fun-filled interactive and inclusive activities, children and others can gain a fuller appreciation of nature through their sensory experiences.

Our Garden features 10 sensory gardens. Each sensory garden has been designed to stimulate one (or two) of the human senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, through the careful selection of plants and other landscape elements that elicit the desired sensory responses.