When we select plants for our gardens, we often use certain criteria such as size, shape or colour. Or we choose plants for a particular purpose, for example, to screen an eyesore, provide a colourful display at a certain time of the year, or give a harvest. There are other factors which may be just as important, but that we often forget to consider, and in this article, I highlight the importance of sensory appeal in the garden.
Sight
Perhaps the most obvious sense that we use in our outdoor spaces is sight. The first factor I consider when choosing a plant is ‘what does it look like?’ and that includesflowers, does it have bark of a particularly interesting ing colour, and no doubt a myriad other questions about its appearance, before I consider whether the space I have in mind for it offers the conditions that the plant needs to thrive.
