Designing a Container Garden for Sensory Delight
CONTAINED
BRILLIANCE
Container gardens offer a fantastic opportunity to craft a lasting experience that engages, sight, smell, touch, even taste, right outside your door whether it's at your front entry, balcony or patio. Plus, sensory stimulation enhances our well-being.
At this point in my career, incorporating the five senses into my container garden designs and selecting plants that engage the senses, is second nature. The key lies in selecting plants with each sense in mind considering their textures, shapes and how they complement each other, while also ensuring that they enjoy similar conditions, be it sun or shade, and providing the foundation of quality soil.
So how do you design a container that hits all the senses? Let's break it down.
Sight
Purple and orange flowers complement each other giving harmonious contrast.
Visual appeal is often the first consideration in garden design and the first sense that comes to mind. When planning your container garden, think about the colors, textures and shapes that will make your planting pop. Try combining colors that either contrast or complement each other and mix leaves of different shapes and sizes to create interest. Incorporate a strong vertical element to add a bit of drama and give your arrangement depth.
Smell
Fragrant purple flowers of the Heliotrope 'Fragrant Delight'.
Scents will transform your container garden into a fragrant paradise. Herbal fragrances create moods. Some fragrances are nostalgic. Others take us to another place. Position them near entries or seating areas where the intoxicating fragrance is best enjoyed. Some of my favorite flowering plants for summer containers are Begonia ‘Fragrant Falls Peach’, Heliotrope ‘Fragrant Delight’, Chocolate Cosmos, Trachyspermum jasminoides. Think about plants with scented foliage like lemon verbena, pineapple sage and scented geraniums as well. And don’t forget about incorporating herbs such as lavender and rosemary into your planting. Not only do they smell amazing, but they can be great for cooking and hit the sense of taste as well. Subtlety is good here. Too many fragrances can fight against one another.
Touch
Orange flower spikes of the heath-leaved Banksia ericifolia 'Compact Form'.
Incorporate plants with a variety of leaf textures. Mix plants that have soft and velvety leaves with those of glossy and smooth. Consider adding bolder spiny and bladed leaved plants, or delicate fern fronds for interest. Texture, another sense adds dimension to your planting taking it to the next level when it comes to design. It not only invites tactile exploration, but light reflects on these different textures differently creating new patterns and more visual interest. It’s all part of the fun.
Taste
Simple elegance of an established rosemary provides tasty cuttings for the kitchen.
Edible plants are not only tasty, but they add an extra layer of sensory delight to your container planting. Herbs like parsley, rosemary, and fennel can go directly into recipes or on your plate and at the same time add texture to your planting. Fruits like strawberries add a yummy and whimsical touch while edible flowers such as geraniums, nasturtiums and violas add a pop of color, not only to your planting but add flavor and color to salads or desserts. Just make sure to skip the pesticides if planning to decorate your food with them.
Sound
Enjoy the movement and rustling sounds of the grass, Pennisetum rubrum, on a windy day.
While they are the less talked- about aspect of container gardens, sounds play a role in the planting’s overall sensory experience. Include plants that rustle in the wind, like ornamental grasses such as Pennisetum rubrum to add a soothing vibe. Or mix in plants that are pollinators like Monarda, Salvia and Cuphea to draw hummingbirds and other friendly pollinators to your plantings, ultimately creating a melodious soundtrack to your plantings.
Designing a container garden with the five senses in mind will turn your outdoor living space into a whole experience that not only delights but engages. By selecting plants for their visual appeal, fragrance, texture, taste and sound you’re creating a space that nourishes every part of you. Whether you're unwinding surrounded by blooming flowers or adding fresh herbs to your dinner, a container garden designed with the five senses offers layers and layers of enjoyment. So let your senses lead the way as you create your own little slice of paradise in a pot.
