Sensory garden comes to life

People of all ages came along to help create a beautiful sensory garden in Cockatoo on Sunday. Pics: SUPPLIED

By Gabriella Payne

Cockatoo’s Hills Community Gardens were buzzing with activity on Sunday 16 May, as the community came together to help create a beautiful native sensory garden, and learn some tips along the way.

Sunday’s workshop saw people of all ages pull on their gardening gloves as they worked to create a garden rich for all the senses, and have a bit of fun at the same time.

A spokesperson for the Hills Community Garden, Brodie, said that it had been a ”great day” and it had been wonderful to see so many people getting their hands dirty to create such a beautiful, calming community garden.

“All gardens have the ability to enhance the senses, however sensory gardens are a wonderful way to support individual needs and personalise your gardening experience,” Brodie said.

“Within a sensory garden, plants and landscaping material are selected for their appeal to all five senses with the aim of offering a therapeutic experience to a range of people with different needs.”

Brodie said that all five senses including sight, sound, touch, taste and smell had been taken into consideration when planning out the garden – and by using native plants, the end result was even more special.

“Australia’s native plants are astounding, we have such a diverse collection of plants which are very unique and hardy, so we thought we would create an extra special sensory garden and use only Australian Native Plants.”

Brodie encouraged everyone to try creating their own sensory garden at home, and said when planning your project, it was important to consider a range of elements including colours, balance, focal points, shapes and lines, spaces, textures and themes.

“It is important to know that there is no one size fits all ‘sensory garden’,” Brodie said.

“Have fun with the process of creating your sensory garden, and know that the creation of the garden itself is therapeutic and supportive to your senses.”

The Hills Community Gardens host a range of workshops regularly, held on the third Sunday of each month from 10.30am to 1.30pm.

Their next project will be to create a pollinator garden on Sunday 21 June, and Brodie encouraged everyone to come along.

“We know that our bees and other beneficial insects are not as productive as they could be, so we are encouraging our pollinating friends by redesigning a section of our gardens and will be planting a selection of flowering plants.

We would love to have as many helping hands as we can.

Come down and lend a hand in the garden and enjoy a cuppa and midday snack,” Brodie said.

For more information, give the Community Gardens a call on (03) 5968 7000, or head down and say hello at 73 Healesville – Kooweerup Rd, Cockatoo.