With amazing scents, real-life colors, soothing sounds, interesting textures, and many unequaled tasting opportunities, gardens have this wonderful way of connecting with the soul. They appeal in a nice and non-confronting way to all available senses. For those with sensory processing sensitivities, nature can be a particularly welcome escape from the louder and busier parts of the world. Plants provide a chance to just stand in stillness; they ask our permission to be a part of our world rather than hurtling into it, seemingly without breaks. They can reduce anxiety and, in turn, make for better days. 

Sensory gardens are specifically designed to envelope all of the sense. Sensory plants are those with marked visual, textural, fragrant qualities, and those that provide unique sounds and tastes. You can create a sensory garden inside, outside, or inside an outside structure. If you’re embarking on a journey to create the perfect sensory garden, these are 5 must-have sensory plants to include.

Daffodils

Natural colors are more vivid (and much more believable) than print colors. Daffodils are great as sensory plants because they illuminate the garden with their bright yellow or snow-white flowers. They’re classified as perennials because they will return year after year. Hardy and made up of multiple shapes for visual interest, daffodils are super versatile in where they can be planted. They’re great when lining a pathway, in between shrubs, in a flower bed but, unlike many flowers, they can be planted randomly as they are in nature.

Different flowers bloom at different times so you can plan ahead and make sure you have a flower show from early spring to late autumn. If you plant daffodil bulbs in autumn, you can expect them to bloom in early spring.

Other plants recommended for visual stimulation include rainbow chards, marigolds, pansies, sunflowers, tulips or roses.

Jasmine

A walk in the garden gives you a decent breath of fresh air, but by carefully selecting sensory plants you can add various new and intriguing scents as well. Not all scents are for everyone and many can be overwhelming, so it’s best to try them out in small doses before fully committing them to the ground. 

Jasmine is well-known for its delicate flowers and even more for its unique tropical smell. Depending on which gardening zone you live in, it can bloom all year long. Jasmine can be planted in the ground as well as in hanging pots (but will need to be transplanted into the ground after the first year or two if you want it to continue blooming). The plant grows well in full sun, but also in partially shaded areas of your garden.

Other plants with distinct scents are sweet peas, lavender, native mint bush, lemon balm, hyacinths, and gardenias.

Strawberries

Gardening becomes more rewarding when you get to eat the bounty you’ve created. There are just so many activities that can be done with edible plants, and growing food also provides an awesome lesson in healthy eating. 

Strawberries are considered to be some of the easiest fruits to grow. And you can grow them in a variety of different planters as long as they don’t lay on too wet ground for too long at any given time. Best suited for a home garden is the June-bearing type of strawberries for summer picnics.

Other plants to stimulate the taste buds are cherry tomatoes, carrots or salad, as well as aromatic plants, like basil or rosemary.

Aloe Vera

Doesn’t matter what your sensory needs, plants with different textures are just plain fun. 

Commonly, Woolley Lamb’s Ear will be the first touch plant recommended for a sensory garden, that’s why we wanted to show off Aloe Vera instead. Like all succulents, aloe vera can thrive in dry conditions, but it still needs more water than most to keep it flourishing. It’s also pretty great for sunburn and some other types of skin conditions. 

Young aloe vera plants have soft spikes on their leaves and are safe to touch, but the spikes of older plants can get you pretty good if you're not careful. If this garden is for someone in your care, you can always snip off the very end of the spikes to round them off.

Besides aloe vera, some of the best plants to stimulate touch are woolly lamb’s ear, sage, bottlebrush, and snapdragons

Northwind Switch Grass

Corn and bamboo make wonderful rustling sounds. If you’re planting bamboo, go for the non-invasive clumping kind for more manageability. Tall grasses in general make the best natural instruments. You can even fold grass in half and blow through it to make an actual musical instrument from it.

One of the best for a sensory garden is Northwind Switch Grass, a perennial whose olive to blue-green foliage turns golden yellow in autumn.

For more, check out our Pinterest activities board.

About Stephen’s Place

Stephen’s Place is an independent apartment community for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, located in Vancouver, WA (7 minutes from Portland, OR).

If you have a loved one with developmental or intellectual disabilities, who is looking for a community to live in, please contact us for more information. 

Stephen’s Place is a private-pay apartment community due to our state-of-the-art amenities and programs. We are a nonprofit and do not profit from our community. We are private pay because we spend more than some housing communities to ensure that our residents are comfortable and can safely live their lives with independence and dignity.