What is a garden if not a sensory extravaganza? Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens will unveil its Garden of the Five Senses in 2008. From its position adjacent to the Visitor Center, this garden will become the starting point where you can "tune up" your senses before going on to experience the rest of the property. Because it is based on years of travel and study, augmented by extraordinary expertise, this garden is likely to be the finest sensory garden anywhere, contributing to our reputation as a world-class botanical garden.
Moreover, this garden is being planned so that the visually impaired and other disabled individuals can enjoy it to the fullest - and, thanks to inventive methods, even participate in its planting and maintenance. This, too, is the result of much research and consideration.
Spearheading this project are Mollie and Wells Moore, residents of nearby Southport Island. Several years ago, Mollie was suddenly struck blind. Already active members of the Gardens, she and Wells initiated the idea of a sensory garden that would be, simply put, the best of its kind. The Moores, along with the group of committed volunteers they assembled, traveled throughout the world and learned and conferred so they could optimize this garden's potential and eliminate possible problems.
With the committee's input, in 2004 award-winning landscape architect Herb Schaal, FASLA and his team at EDAW in Colorado developed the master plan for what is now called the Garden of the Five Senses. The separate areas for each sense merge into one another through curved pathways, bridges, and water features. A small building will serve as an outdoor classroom.
Can You Name The Five Senses?
Quick, name all five senses. Can you think how they'd be interpreted in our Garden of the Five Senses? Let us count the ways:
Touch: Plants with texture; a reflexology walk; water and earth; shapes and sizes
Taste: Edibles from the garden - flowers, fruit, herbs and greens - sweet, sour, salty
Smell: Fragrance, fragrance, fragrance! And possibly a few pungent and odiferous plants for good measure
Sound: Rustling leaves, falling water, breezes in evergreens and other trees
Sight: The full spectrum of colors in flowers, foliage, and features
Help Us Build the Sensory Garden
Fundraising efforts continue for this major addition to Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. If you would like to help build the Garden of the Five Senses, please contact Director of Development Mike Helfgott at support@mainegarden.org or 207-633-4333.