KOCHI: Gardens crank up energy levels and leave our senses sharper. We could design our green patches to improve all the five senses – smell, touch, colour, taste and sound. These are sensory gardens and they help us improve our mental and physical health. In Pune, a sensory garden was developed to make it more accessible to disabled persons. The 600 sq ft garden, called Rotary Sensory Garden, has sand pits, tactile flooring, sound instruments and a pond. These gardens could also help autistic children, who may be over or under sensitive to sensory stimulus.
Basic principles to design a sensory garden
It is important to divide the sensory garden layout into five pockets. Each pocket should have the plants which are connected with one sense.
There should be a distance between each pocket which helps us experience that particular sense better. For example four pockets could be designed in four corners of the garden and fifth pocket could be in the centre.
Smell is the primary sense, which is directly connected with our central nerve system. When we smell a jasmine flavour, it immediately triggers a happy energy. But it is important to have all five pockets in the sensory garden to get maximum benefits.
Minimum three different plants should be planted in each pocket. Plant numbers could be adjusted based on the space availability. The plants like jasmine, tulsi or the other plants with your favourite fragrance could be planted in smell pocket.
For touch sense the plants with different textures should be planted. The leaves or flowers with smooth and rough texture to be planted in this pocket. Doddapatre leaf has a rough surface and banana leaf has a smooth texture.
Seeing different colours of flowers will be a treat for the eyes. The colour pocket should have light, dark and green colour foliage.
Taste pocket should be planted with edible plants with different tastes like sweet, bitter and punchy taste. The Stevia leaves are sweet and Tulsi leaves are slightly bitter in taste. Tasting these leaves every day make the taste buds more sensitive. One pocket to be designed for the sound sense. The leaves or the pods which make a sound could be planted in this pocket.