Healing, Sensory and Therapeutic Gardens

The title of this blog happens to be the title of the academic text I am writing this year. Routledge Press, London, have commissioned me to write the text for landscape architects, architects, urban planners and health care practitioners and students. The book details how we can use gardens for their ancient healing properties. As always I am advocating a low maintenance, sustainable approach to sensory garden design.

Regardless of the scale of the development, whether it is a small inner city residential garden, a public park, or an isolated patch of greenspace we can tap into the healing properties of gardens. When designed for health and well-being, even a humble suburban garden can be a sensory-rich, healing space.

We need to be mindful of the effect of colour. Different areas of the garden can be designed to evoke a certain mood, such that when the garden visitor needs support to feel calm, energised or humbled by the beauty of nature, we can offer those options within a space.

Water is an important element in a healing, sensory garden. As an essential element for life, we are not necessarily aware we need it around and available to us, but on a deep level respond positively with reduced cortisol levels (the stress hormone), reduced blood pressure and report feelings of positive mood and well-being when we have a 'blue view'.

Colour, shape and form are other elements we work with in a healing, sensory and therapeutic garden. Every healing garden needs plentiful seating options. Here the bright pink colour is balanced by softer tones of the planting. Sharp edged shapes are again softened and balanced by the predominantly rounded form of the flowers. The garden, in its totality, promotes the Greenstone Design aim of health and well-being, by design.

Water in sensory gardens

Water is a vital element in any garden, but particularly in sensory gardens.

Touch, Sight, Hearing and possibly Taste are all stimulated by water. As the essential element for all life it brings a real vibrancy to a sensory garden. Water features can be small or large, depending on the local environment, available space and the needs of the users.

Garden design for sustainable sensory gardens is a specialist area. With water becoming a diminishing natural resource, it is important to design sustainable water features. Water features with large surface areas will be prone to rapid evaporation in hot weather. Rills can have a large resevoir fed off a rainwater harvesting system, but a narrow surface area across the narrow width of the canal allows mirror images, beautiful wildlife habitat and low evaporatino rates.

Surface planting with water lilies helps keep water temperatures cool, and again slows evaporation.

In a sustainable sensory garden make use of the shape of the land. A compacted low lying area of clay soil in the garden could be turned into a bog garden. It would fill naturally during periods of heavy rainfall, promoting increased biodiversity, and a sense of wonder in all who visited.