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How are scented gardens designed to help blind visitors enjoy plant fragrances?
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Keukenhof Gardens, near Lisse, Netherlands.
Scented gardens are specialized spaces designed to prioritize fragrance as the primary criterion for plant selection, specifically to enhance the experience for blind visitors.1
To ensure these visitors can easily interact with the plants, the gardens are typically designed with the following features:
- Raised Beds: Plants are grown in raised beds, which brings them to a height that is easily accessible for visitors to touch and explore.1
- Tactile Engagement: Because many plants only release their fragrance when they are bruised or rubbed, these gardens are arranged to encourage physical interaction, allowing visitors to handle the foliage to release the scent.1
- Strategic Placement: Plants are selected based on their ability to provide fragrance, whether they release their scent naturally in full sunlight or require manual stimulation.1
By carefully selecting and arranging these plants, designers create an immersive environment that restores the traditional delight of fragrance, which can often be obscured in modern settings by environmental pollutants.2