five senses in the garden

gang gang
When I posted about my garden dreaming my friend Zoe (of the paper roll family and Land Art) wrote to tell me about what she has done to make her garden child-friendly.  She used an idea from a garden book suggesting that a child-friendly garden should stimulate the 5 senses.
Here is how she has tried to incorporate the 5 senses into her garden (I should mention that she lives on a property in rural Victoria) …
Taste: I bought native plants that you can eat such as midgim berries, mountain peppers, lemon myrtle and a finger lime.  I justify this as a reason NOT to spray the blackberries near the house, and having picnics in the orchard has been very satisfying this summer.
Sight: CONTRAST is how I view this - different colours, different shapes, so trees, bushes, grasses, climbers.percussion stump
Hearing: we have the percussion stump (see picture). I also have a 'bell' tree - an agonis hung with strings of bells.
Smell: a variety of things, not just flowers: the lemon myrtle leaves smell fantastic.  I also have a curry bush and a boronia that smells of aniseed.
Touch: All sorts of things, again I go for contrast like banksia seed pods or trees with different barks.
Other child friendly elements in the garden aregarden animals     garden animals
  • animals spread through out the garden (those in the pictures were bought from a great native nursery in Melbourne)
  • glazed dishes down on the ground with water for the birds (too shallow for drowning) - we've had lots of wrens having a bath and the gang gangs drinking from them.
Thanks to Zoe for sharing her garden ideas.  I love the idea of a bell tree and those animal sculptures.  I’m a bit obsessed with child-friendly gardens at the moment so there will probably be more garden stuff to come.

Comments

I love reading about what other people are doing in the gardens and playgrounds - so inspiring. She has put so much thought into the space - and I am loving the stump idea!
SquiggleMum said…
Great photo of a gang gang cockatoo!! Love it.
Veronica Foale said…
This is how we're slowly working things out too. I can't wait for winter to hit properly, even though I HATE the cold, because I am desperate to plant more fruit trees. I'm also planning on just wandering through the paddock, scattering flower seeds and hoping they take.

I need to string some bells in trees though. There is something about bells that is just calming and fantastic.
That bell tree is so neat!
Thanks for visiting my blog, Catherine. Cheers, Colin
Love this idea - a great way to think again about the garden. And I wanted to let you know the International Postcard Swap we talked about is now happening!

http://www.playingbythebook.net/2010/04/22/sending-smiles-and-an-international-family-postcard-swap/

Hope you can join in :-)