Plant Ideas for a Sensory Garden-Touch

Lamb's Ears ( Stachys byzantia) very silk foliage feeling just like a little lambs ear.

Silver Sage ( Salvia argentea) has silvery white leaves that feel a little bit like cotton wool to the touch.

Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis fruticaosa) very soft leaves that feel a bit like down feathers.

Houseleek ( Sempervivum "Commander Hay) this plants leaves are very rigid and tough to touch
African sundew ( Drosera capensis; meat-eating plant that catches its prey using a glue-like substance on the surface of its leaves , very sticky to touch!

Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum): large spiny seed heads
Hedge woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) hairy leaves
Gayfeather ( very soft)

Plant Ideas for a Sensory Garden-Color

Blue Supercascade petunia (Petunia x hybrida'Blue Supercascade')

Huge deep-blue flowers, measuring up to 5 inches across, bloom from late spring to late summer.

Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

This Illinois native features scarlet-red flowers, reddish-purple stems and bronze-tinged, bright green leaves. It blooms from late summer through early autumn.

White Angel crab apple

(Malus 'White Angel') A profusion of white blossoms appear on this tree in early spring, with red, glossy fruit emerging in late summer or early autumn.

Plant Ideas for a Sensory Garden-Sound

Sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima)

Glossy, lance-shaped leaves rustle in the wind, and the cup-enclosed nuts "pop" in the spring. there is no food more widely used by wildlife than acorns.  Many people are interested in producing more acorns on their property but do not want to wait the 25 to 30 years it usually takes native oak trees to start producing acorns. There is a species of oak that begins production much sooner. Sawtooth oak (Quercus accitimus) is a tree native to Asia that is widely adapted to the southeast United States. Sawtooth oaks grow fast and routinely produce first crops of acorns in the fifth or sixth growing season. The acorns are large like those from our white oaks and are dropped in September and October. Sawtooth oak trees will reach a height of 50 to 70 feet. They are sometimes used as a fast growing ornamental shade tree in yards.


Narrow-leaved cattail (Typha angustifolia)

The linear leaves of this aquatic perennial whisper in the breeze. Its fuzzy brown flower spikes bloom in midsummer. An erect aquatic freshwater perennial in the cat-tail family (Typhaceae) growing 3 to 6 feet tall. long linear leaves emerge in spring. Leaves are 2 to 5 feet long, very narrow, and flattened. Flowers mature in mid summer and are comprised of velvety brown, cigar-shaped spikes 2 to 6 inches long with a gap between the male and female flowers (common cattail Typha latifolia has no gap). The male flowers are produced above the female spike, which forms a thick brown dense mass, later breaking up and allowing the fruits to disperse by wind. One plant can produce approximately 250,000 soft downy seeds in the fall. Seeds can remain viable in the seed-bank for up to 100 years. It reproduces by seeds and by thick, rapidly spreading, lateral rhizomes.


Grasses
Rattle Snake Grass
Greater quaking grass, Briza maxima
Bamboos
Bamboo Phyllostachys ( whispering sound)
Animated Oats
Love in the Mist ( rattling seed heads)

Miscanthus oligostachyus 'Nanus Variegatus'( bamboo-like foliage that is noisy)
Canterbury bell (Campanula medium) attracts lost of buzzing bees
Listen for the sound of the wind in the garden plants
listen out for the dawn chorus of the wild birds in a garden ( you need to get up at dawn)
encourage birds to hear their bird song
build birdfeeders and bird baths a moving water feature
wind chimes
encourage kids to build things that make a sound ( twigs, pebbles on a string, seashell finds)

Plant Ideas for a Sensory Garden- Fragrance

Curry plant (Helichrysum italicum)

True to its name, this plant fills the air with the scent of curry. It has silver-gray leaves and long-lasting yellow flowers that bloom in the summer. Curry Plant looks very similar to Lavender in its leaf stage. But, as the picture to the right shows, it looks totally different in bloom. Curry Plant likes it warm and dry. It is native to Turkey and thrives on sunny slopes where it attracts beneficial
insects to its unusual flowers.


 

Butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii)

Long, arching clusters of sweet-scented flowers bloom midsummer, attracting butterflies and bees. Beautiful flowering shrub, makes good cut flowers. Can be planted in very nearly any landscape site. Butterfly bush is an old favorite of many gardeners, however it's popularity comes and goes with the passage of time. Butterfly bush holds it foliage into the fall season but does not show any fall color. Butterfly bush flowers from June-July to fall and colors vary from white, pink, lavender, purple and to near red, depending on the variety. Butterfly bush prefers a well-drained, moist, loamy type soil and tolerates heat and drought after it becomes well established. Butterfly bush will attract hoards of bees and butterflies to your garden. Butterfly bush can grow  5 to 10 feet high and wide, but can be trimmed to 4 to 6 feet. The more you trim, the more it blooms.

Chocolate Scented Daisy (Berlandiera lyrata)

This spring and summer bloomer has flowers with chocolate-scented, light green centers surrounded by brown or yellow ray-shaped florets. The "Chocolate Fragrance Award" goes to the Chocolate Scented Daisy (Berlandiera lyrata), a quarter-size, vibrant, yellow daisy with striking red striped undersides and chocolate-colored stamens. A small plant with an airy habit, Chocolate Scented Daisy  (sometimes called Chocolate Flower) makes a nice, informal edging plant, and is most impressive and most fragrant when planted in groups.

10 Easy Ways to Make Your Garden a Sensory Experience

1. Plant fragrant flowers and herbs in raised beds or containers to bring pleasant scents closer to your nose.

2. Plant fragrant plants near doors and windows for maximum enjoyment.

3. Include the soothing sound of water by building a fountain, pond or stream.

4. Create a mood with color. Choose yellow, red and orange plants to create

a warm, inviting garden. Select green, blue and violet plants to create a serene

atmosphere.
5. Make your own natural music by planting a variety of trees, grasses and shrubs that rustle in the wind.

6. Select plants with colored and textured leaves, flowers, berries and bark to make your garden visually interesting all year long.

7. Choose plants that are furry, spongy, prickly or silky to add tactile delight to your garden.

8. Combine tall, medium and short plants to create visual interest.

9. Group plants with subtle fragrances in drifts to combine their scent and intensify the effect.

10. Plant shrubs, flowers and trees that attract bees, birds, butterflies and other

wildlife to your back yard.

Plant Suggestions tommorow

How the First Earth Day Came About

By Senator Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day

What was the purpose of Earth Day? How did it start? These are the questions I am most frequently asked.

Cutting the Lawn So Easy a Caveman could do it!

When a friend of mine was Married one of his wife's friends told her to cut the lawn short so it was well trimmed and to bag the clippings so every time he got his hands on the Mower it went up to 2.5 inches and he mulched. When she would do it down it went and $7.00 a bag to haul away clippings. He always had one of the best lawns on the block. Six years after a messy break up a messy Lawn . After visiting 27,000 each year I have come up with the some truths about people and their lawns.

Question of the Day should I power Rake my lawn?

I get asked all the time should I Power Rake my lawn?

I only recommend dethatching or power raking lawns that suffer from an extremely thick thatch layer that is between 1.5-3 inches thick. The reason is because dethatching causes extensive damage to a lawn and is extremely labor intensive. If your thatch layer is less than an inch and a half, then I recommend aeration in the spring and fall as the best method to reduce your thatch. Core aeration pulls plugs of soil and thatch out of the lawn and the cores of soil breakdown and populates the thatch with millions of soil microbes that help biodegrade the thatch naturally.
So why does my landscaper do it.

Benefits of a well-maintained healthy lawn and landscape

• Helps beautify the neighborhood

• Creates a relaxing space of natural beauty. 
•  
• Grassy areas quickly affect people's moods by creating feelings of serenity, privacy, thoughtfulness or happiness.
•  Its yearly cycles of growth and color changes, lift human spirits and link urban inhabitants with their countryside heritage.
• Front lawns of just eight average houses have the cooling effect of about 70 tons of air conditioning, while the average home-size central air unit has only a 3-4 ton capacity.
• While strict conservationists berate the lowly lawn as an expensive consumer of natural resources, it is actually a natural provider for our ecosystem.
• Healthy, dense lawns absorb rainfall six times more effectively than a wheat field, four times better than a hay field.
• Lawns prevent runoff and erosion of our precious top soil. It also traps much of the estimated 12 million tons of dust and dirt released into the US atmosphere annually.
• Lawns also purify water entering into underground aquifers–its root mass and soil microbes act as a filter to capture and breakdown many types of pollutants.
   
• Lawns Increases real estate market value and salability. A Gallup Survey reported 62% of all US homeowners felt investment in lawns and landscaping was as good or better than other home improvements. The investment recovery rate is 100-200% for landscape improvement, compared to a deck or patio that will recover 40-70% of installation cost. Proper and well maintained landscaping adds 15% to a home's value according to buyers.
• Recovery rates among hospitalized patients are often quicker when their rooms view a landscaped area compared to patients with non-landscaped views.  

• Playing fields covered with dense turf have proven safer, as demonstrated by a simple egg drop test. When a dozen raw eggs were dropped from a height of 11 feet onto a two-inch thick piece of dense turf, none broke; two thirds broke on thin turf from that height, and from just 18 inches, all broke on an all-weather track!
   
   

Dangerous Garden Plants for Pets and Children

Recently I brought home a pot of Narcissus for my lovely Wife. We set it in the window our two Cats love to sit in. Two days later they both had diarrhea and were vomiting. I had considered the effect the flowers would have on the love of my life but not the cats.
People worry so much about Garden products but ignore what we plant or creeps in as a weed which most of the time are far more dangorous.Dont get me wrong plant these Enjoy these but be aware.  So I did some research and I hope it helps

Wake up your lawn for spring.

I get a lot of emails asking about spring wake up the lawn. Here is some simple information to help you wake your lawn.

Assuming your grass is fairly green and somewhat healthy already, you can add a light dose of iron and Organic as a way of achieving a richer, deeper blue-green color. This is will surely set your lawn apart in the neighborhood. In fact, it is iron that makes Kentucky Blue Grass, “blue.”