Gardening for the Senses

Does anyone else do this? Many plant for fragrance, and of course for visual delight, but what about the other three senses? I have made a conscious effort to plant to appeal to all five senses. I love plants that are nice to touch - Lamb's Ears and soft needled Conifers, for example. For sound, nothing beats the sound of water from the pond. And the sound of the leaves rustling is one of my favorites. I don't have one, but the sound of a Quaking Aspen is one of the most relaxing you'll find. Of course planting for wildlife will bring the sounds of birds and other critters. Last, for taste, all the edibles - veggies, fruits, etc. I still occasionally do something I did as a kid - pick off a Honeysuckle bloom and bite the end to suck the nectar out. Hopefully I won't be surprised by a bee.

How about you?

Very limited for me. I do have some lilacs, but can't smell much else. I do try to have a wide variety of flowers for wildlife to use.

I typically plant for visual.....for some reason I don't have a good sniffer. Basically I just love colour and that is what I plant for.

I was dividing some plants this am, and noticed how nice some phlox smell, and thought I should have them closer to the deck for that reason. But I'm not planning on moving them.
And I have raspberry plants I put in last year.
I don't have lambs ears now, but will stand and feel them when I go to the nursery, and wonder where I can add them.

When I was very small child phlox is the first scent I can remember at my grandmother's farm while spending the summers there. To this very day, I favor the scent of that flower.

I also like the scent of freshly cut grass, also hay as it is stacked the barn. Pine also pleases my smelling sense so do listening gentle winds through any tree but when a storm rushes through them and limbs are falling that worries me.

As far as colors go, I like what ever they offer.

I love the strong odor of lily blooms..... just reminds me of summer and strawberries from the yard always make me happy

Whenever I see a new plant, the color of the flower or foliage is what first attracts me. Then when you get close enough the first thing you want to do is sniff for fragrance. I am usually disappointed when a beautiful flower doesn't have an equally beautiful scent. Other things in its favor may bring it into my garden such as texture, bloom and time of bloom or what conditions it likes. I guess I plant for all different reasons including all the senses usually without realizing it. Our senses is how we can appreciate our gardens no matter if all or just some are working well, the important thing is that we take the time to see, smell, touch, listen and when nature offers up a snack, have a taste. :)

standing in front of the raspberry patch eating sweet berries straight off the vine, feeling the warmth of the sun on my face, shining from the bright blue sky, and listening to the wind wrestle a few crabapple leaves to the ground.
hadn't thought about all the senses so much before, even tho rustling leaves is a favorite sound. thanks Victor

This message was edited Sep 17, 2007 12:11 PM

anise hyssop for scent

strawflowers for touch

oh, I have roses for visual, touch, scent... nothing like looking at a pretty rose and touching it and sniffing it... ah its so very nice... and yes, I have to look out for bees and other bugs that seems to like them as much as me!!!
loooove the smell of rosemary ... I think I like the smell more than the taste~~~
I sniff a lot of plants.... I love the sight and smell of brugmansias late in the afternoon... it's so precious when you can sit down and appreciate those things...

love the sounds of birds (so I have feeders and plants!!!) and trees...
I touch everything... even thorns...lol... yes you could say I am a touchy feely person...

and of course I eat tomatoes out of the vine... and munch on stevia leaves...

Color and texture in as many variations as I can get. We had a quaking aspen two houses before this one. It was my 'whispering tree'. We have a couple of stunted ones across the road.

I love sitting and watching the birds at the feeders, and if he doesn't dart too much, can follow a hummingbird's flight for a pretty fair piece.

A water feature is in the works for next season. Just a smallish fountain, I think.

And, I just love the odor of damp soil in the spring!!!

I find that I plant things that stirr up memories of my childhood. Phlox, petunias, hollyhock, rose of sharon, violets, to name a few.

That's nice, Debby. My childhood memories are of concrete and asphalt.

sweet peas, forget me nots and lily of the valley are my childhood memories

Victor did you grow up in the "city"? Up until recently I was traveling to either Harlem or the Bronx for work about once a week. I have learned that I am not a city girl. I was nicked named "the upstater". Although I did find it amusing that one of the girls I work with who lives in the city asked me if we have streetlights in Saratoga Springs!! Cute.

My grandmother was a gardener and a bird watcher. I remember sitting in her kitchen in the morning on weekends watching the birds and asking my grandmother to tell me stories of when she was a little girl. I remember I asked her if they had cars when she was little, she didn't like that question very much. After that I just let her tell the stories and not ask too many questions :)

That's cute. Yes, I grew up in Queens. Left 11 years ago when I bought my house here.

Yes! Lily of the Valley, such a sweet smell! I remember picking handfulls of them and braiding the stems together to make bracelets.

Maria, my great-grandmother had phlox in her garden. she passed away when I was five, but I still remember the scent...and I swear they were taller than I was LOL. I'll be planting some in my new cottage garden next spring. they will always remind me of her.

and the smell of pine and sight of the still water on the retention pond behind our house in the early hours take me right back to childhood vacations at our camp in the Adirondacks.

I'm with Kassia on roses...sight, smell, touch. and they are edible if you so choose. quiet, though...very quiet. they don't even answer when I talk to them.

I pet my lamb's ear and artemisia.

I plant for wildlife and feed the birds, so the songbirds are a delight to listen to when I'm in the garden. especially early in the morning...I'm usually out before 7.

But I still think my biggest joy in the garden is the color. Guess I'm a visual person after all.

grampapa, I know they were taller then you were, mine right now are nearly six feet tall though most have gone by , I dead headed quite a few of them, I get uo early too, it is still dark, wish I coukld sleep longer but only 5 hours and that is it

how about this for sight????

how perfect is this???? sooooo perfect!!!!!!

soft and sooooo nice.....

I'm a grandma who loves to sit with the 'grands' and teach them about the flowers and show them the birds gathering on the feeders. I get a kick out of it when my DSIL calls me to the window and asks, "What kind of bird is THAT?"

The smaller 'grands' are easier to pin down than the teens, but they all show an interest in the gardens and the birds - to varying degrees.

I eagerly anticipate the day when 'fragrance' can be experienced on DG! I'm sure Dave is working on it.

Yes, I do plant with all five senses in mind, Victor:

Sight: Japanese irises, Asiatic and other lilies, Daylilies

Sound: Always the birds and their songs

Touch: Lychnis, Lamb's ears, Jade plant that summers outdoors.

Smell: So many! Lilacs, Lily of the Valley, Oriental lily, Hosta Plantaginea, Roses and Lavender.

Taste: All the vegetables but also both the golden and red raspberries and cherry tomatoes (Sweet 100), warm from the sunshine.

For all of our paths the long needled pines are soft on the feet, feel so nice, smell wonderful and look beautiful: hard to ask more of a path. I'll skip tasting them.

picking raspberries, I brushed up against fennel, very soft and feathery

Yes! How did I forget that one and all the wonderful smells and touches of the herbs!?

Been born and raised in the middle of a most beautiful city,, Vienna,Austria, I did see many lovely flower and what always impressed me were the chestnut trees from white to almost red, also the scent of lilacs and jasmin, not forgetting the yellow, sort of weeping shrubs we call " Golden Rain" a translation from the German, do not know what its proper name is in English.
the gardens and parks are just beautiful, my father worked for the city as a master gardener, taking care of many of them.

When I arrived here, a very rural farm village, my DML taught me all that grows here and the name of out feathered friend . I still have many flowers she gave me from her garden.
Gardenig has also been very helpful for me in those days, I did miss my city terribly and still do many times that is not to say I do not like it here, just love it also. Simply two different worlds.

Maria - can you give us a town and a street so we can use Google maps to see it? Thank you.

pirl, a specific town?

The town where you grew up as a child. Google maps go all over the earth.

oh, It is Vienna, Austria. You aslo canread a lot about it in google

Thanks. I'll take a trip tonight and miss out on all the calories from the wonderful pastries I've heard so much about.

lol pirl, I am going to send you some pictures on D-Mail, my daughter and her husband took while spending a couple of weeks there in June , was afraid they might not come back, they just loved it

Candyce I am also trying to teach my grandchildren the beauty in nature. I feed the birds as well showing and telling them their names. I let them pick any of the fragrant flowers they like from my garden as long as they pick them with respect so they will continue to grow. I hope they carry these memories of me into their adult life with their children

Thank you, Maria. The photos are lovely.

dp: I'm sure they'll cherish the memories.

Debby and pirl:

I can speak from experience that they indeed do cherish the memories.

My grandkids now expect to get any flower they pick to take home before they leave. Both my DDILs are into gardens too so the oldest two boys already know a lot of plant names. They always have to pat the Lambs Ear and smell the flowers when we walk through the garden. They like all the bees and of course the flutterbys. :)

Oh happy b'day to :-) , 25 years old today.

ngam, I agree with you, I too am disappointed when a beautiful flower doesn't smell very pretty. I guess I garden first by sight, love bright bold colors, then by smell, then by touch.
Love the sound of birds singing.

I cannot be disappointed when I look at my beautiful dahlias,even though there is no scent