Engaging the Senses
"We each have their own unique ideas about how our garden should look and feel -. common element is the clear identity of the garden with a clear sense of place that can be quiet, simple place in which to escape from the frenetic pace of modern human life, or it could be a lively, colorful area where the whole family can enjoy games and barbecues. "
Dean Hickson, tutor
as a gardener, which means the phrase "sense of place" mean to you? We thought the following meanings, but you May have thought of others:
"People like circular or curvy gardens with lots of motion .... They do not want formal gardens - they are looking for something softer, more relaxed and simply live."
Carol Gallagher McCulloch, Scotland on Sunday, 2005.
garden with a strong sense of place works in every respect - cohesion, design, color, identity. The design is confident (though not necessarily bold) and visitors feel comfortable in it.
"You always know when you're entering a balanced, harmonious garden, because she feels comfortable - the line will lead you naturally through space, and the shapes and volumes are still on the eye ... Most of us want our outdoor spaces offer calm refuge. "sensory experience,
Diarmuid Gavin, design your garden.
We experience the garden through each of our senses, a real sense of place occurs when there is harmony between the different sensory messages are picking up - touch, smell, sound, sight and even taste. For this reason, when creating a garden, you must be aware of how your design senses belts.
How do you think garden design could address the following senses: hearing, smell, touch and taste? There are many possibilities here, but one that we thought immediately include:
Of all the senses, sight is the one with the most impact when we first enter the garden.
the way we see the colors have evolved primarily as a mechanism of survival, and today still paint gives us important messages about safety - for example, warning colors of poisonous snakes, or the red-hot ember orange glow - but more than that, color helps us to enjoy the beauty of our environment. Scientists argue that our ability to experience the color is far behind that we might be just for survival purposes, and we seem to have incorporated the ability to find pleasure in color. Researchers Padgham and Saunders note:
"Our ability to see color is very elaborate for mere survival and reproduction. Our ability is far beyond what is necessary to distinguish ripe from unripe fruit or severity of mobility. The joy of color is a bonus of our senses."
Smell
Our sense of smell is a powerful tool. Among other things, it tells us:
The fragrance may also trigger memories and help us identify the people or place, even though we can not see. As we have seen the smell was central to creating a strong sense of place in the garden.
Many of us under-use of our sense of smell, choosing instead to rely on our vision. Try to become more aware of how everyday things, places and people smell. As you go through the day, close your eyes sometimes (but only when it is safe to do so!) and experience their environment as a whole through the smell.
Think about what smells can you say? They can, for example, you can tell that you are cooking chicken for dinner is fresh and will taste good. On the otherhand, they can tell you that something is old and out-of-date lurking at the back of the refrigerator! Some scents will evoke memories. It can be enjoyable, or less. Understanding more about the flavor and how it affects the mood can help you make the most of the smell in the garden too.
There has been much research on the psychological impact of a strong odor. For example, researchers at Yale University in America found that the smell of apples and cinnamon has a strong stabilizing effect on some people, especially patients who suffer from nervous anxiety. the smell was even found to reduce blood pressure and ward off panic attacks. In the garden, in a similar way, the right fragrance can have a calming and soothing effect.
areas of the brain associated with smell called olfactory center. It is directly connected with other parts of the brain that deal with basic facilities such as sex, hunger and thirst, and also with much more sophisticated understanding of aspects, including emotion, memory, intuition and creativity.








