A Garden for the Five Senses

Most gardens are planned to please the eye: the colors and shapes of flowers, foliage, and structures are arranged to create an effect that is pleasing to look at. And that’s great, because everyone appreciates a beautiful garden. But can we take it a step further and create a garden that appeals not only to the eyes, but also to the other four senses: smell, hearing, taste, and touch? Why not? Here are a few ideas to help you achieve this.

Smell

This is the easiest of the “other senses” to satisfy, as many plants are fragrant. Think of hyacinth, daphne, sweet alyssum, and mock orange, which are so fragrant that you can smell them from two meters away. But not all flowers known for their fragrance actually smell good: in their quest to improve the visual appeal of plants by creating larger, longer-lasting flowers with more intense colors, hybridizers have often neglected fragrance. So, while roses have always been renowned for their fragrance, many modern roses are odorless or almost odorless. The same is often true of sweet peas, heliotropes, and fragrant nicotiana. Ideally, you should visit a nursery to smell the flowers before buying the plants.

Scent Tricks

To fully enjoy fragrant flowers, consider raising the plants on a low wall or growing them in hanging baskets so that the scent is at nose level. Also, the scent is concentrated in calm weather but disperses and is lost in the wind. Therefore, a fragrant garden should preferably be sheltered from the wind. Note that several flowers are only fragrant at night (brugmansia, lady’s mantle, and sweet-scented nicotiana, like the wild form: Nicotiana sylvestris). Consider planting them around a patio where you spend your evenings or at your bedroom window.

There are also aromatic leaves, such as those of certain herbs (thyme, oregano, rosemary, lavender, etc.), as well as strictly ornamental plants, such as juniper, mugwort, and thuja. Pelargoniums (Pelargonium spp.) offers the widest choice of aromatic foliage plants: there are dozens of varieties that smell of lemon, rose, pine, apple, and even chocolate mint, among many others. And giant honey flower (Melianthus major) gives off a peanut butter aroma when rubbed!

Plant aromatic foliage plants along paths, as their aroma will be released when you brush against them.

Hearing

How can a garden tickle your ears? After all, plants don’t sing or play music! But other objects in the garden can give it a musical effect. A water feature in the garden will add a pleasant sound. And what about the gentle tinkling of a wind chime? Even without any artificial devices, the wind rustling through the foliage creates interesting sounds, especially in taller plants that are more exposed to the wind, such as trees and shrubs.

But while few plants have a noticeable auditory effect, you can still attract songbirds to your garden. In general, the more variety you have in your yard, the more birds will visit. A bare lawn will attract few songbirds, but a mix of flower beds, shrubs, trees, and lawn will attract a wide variety of birds. Consider fruit-bearing plants such as serviceberry, serviceberry or edible seeds such as sunflower, echinacea, or goldenrod. And add a small birdbath to keep birds in your garden longer.

Finally, the buzzing of bees is music to the ears. Plants that will attract swarms of bees for long periods of time and fill your garden with song include thyme, catnip, and angelica.

Taste

First, a basic rule: don’t taste plants unless you know not only that they are edible, but also that the part you are eating is edible. For example, only the stalk of rhubarb is edible; the rest is poisonous. Eating the stems or leaves of tomato or potato plants will make you sick. That said, there are vegetables and fruits that everyone is familiar with and that you can easily incorporate into your garden.

Consider plants that appeal to both the senses, such as Swiss chard, purple basil, and red lettuce, which are both attractive to the eye and delicious to eat. Or plants with truly surprising flavors, such as stevia, whose leaves are 100 to 300 times sweeter than sugar, tuberous begonia with flowers that are both sour and sweet, or miracle fruit (Sensepalum dulcificum), which suppresses bitter and sour tastes for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Even a lemon will taste sweet if you eat it after chewing on a miracle fruit!

Touch

We rarely think about touching plants, but it can be a surprisingly interesting experience. Many plants are covered in soft hairs and have a satin-like texture. This is the case with mullein, bear’s ear, and silver sage. Others have a rough texture that is not only surprising but also pleasant, such as borage, hops, and madder. And for an even more daring sensory experience, why not brush against one or two prickly plants? Here are three that won’t pierce the skin but will sting when gently stroked: spruce, thistle, and sea holly (Eryngium).

Your Own Sensory Garden

Come to think of it, you probably already have the beginnings of a sensory garden in your yard, as many common plants appeal to more than one sense. All you need to do is slow down for a few minutes to look, smell, touch, listen, and even taste the plants you already have. I’m sure you’ll make some wonderful discoveries!

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Larry Hodgson has published thousands of articles and 65 books during his career, in French and English. His son, Mathieu, has made it his mission to make his father’s writings accessible to the public. This text was originally published on May 18, 2013, in the newspaper Le Soleil.