So often in gardening, it’s the bigger picture that we focus on – the appearance of a whole border, the size of a harvest. In Garden for the Senses, Kendra Wilson suggests that happiness comes from concentrating on smaller details.
Using ideas associated with mindfulness – being aware of our surroundings and senses – she shows how choosing the right plants can make our gardens more relaxing.
Growing for the senses, she tells us, is “gardening for fun” and every plant should be considered for what it will offer to the senses: “. . . plants that appeal strongly to at least one sense are simply more interesting.”
So, the Katsura tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) it good to look at with autumn colour and heart-shaped leaves but also has scent as it gives off the fragrance of cooked sugar in autumn.
The book takes us through the five senses, suggesting not only plants that would appeal to each one but things we can do in a garden to heighten awareness of our surroundings.
Some are practical, garden design things, such as creating an area of scented plants. Others are more a case of simply being more perceptive – not using gloves so we can feel the soil or plants, listening to the sound of a garden from birdsong to the noise of leaves falling.
Plant ideas range from the obvious – lilies for scent – to the less straightforward with sound including both things that create it, such as grasses, to those that absorb sound pollution.
Some of the senses are good for more than just mental well-being. Looking closely at wild flowers, for example, can suggest plants and planting combinations that would work in a garden.
Woven through the book is some of the science behind senses – how a dragonfly’s eye is constructed , how sound works. I was less keen on the numerous literary quotes, which gave it the feel of an English essay.
Ultimately, a good senses garden is about “profusion rather than precision”. Include as many as sensory things as possible and “both mind and body can indeed swim in pleasure.”
Garden for the Senses by Kendra Wilson is published on February 3, 2022 by DK, priced at £12.99.
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