A garden for all the senses

Hear, taste, smell, touch as well as see the beauty of the greens. By Nandhini Sundar

It is common to find that when a landscape is designed, the key element or overarching factor addressed is the visual aesthetics of the space, irrespective of the kind of flora chosen or the hardscape used. This conceptualisation of a garden where the appeal is focused on the visuals stems from the general opinion that aesthetics pertains to only one sensory aspect.

Contesting this opinion was the presentation made by Agriculturalist and Landscape Architect Prabhakar Rao on Sensory Gardens at the recently concluded Designuru 3.0, an initiative of the Institute of Indian Interior Designers, Bengaluru Chapter. In his talk, hosted by Assocham GEM, Karnataka Chapter at the design festival, he spoke about gardens appealing to all the five senses rather than just the visual appeal.

According to him, a garden should address the sense of hearing, touch, smell and taste along with sight. “Currently, 90 per cent of the garden content is of visual appeal, 8 per cent caters to the fragrant varieties and fulfils the sense of smell, 1.5 per cent addresses the taste buds and barely 0.5 per cent fulfils the sense of touch. As for the sense of hearing, it is zero”, he pointed out.