Sensory Garden

Sensory Garden in summer
Location

Downhill past the entrance to Three-Mile Drive
Find it with Google

Path Type
Paved; Accessible
Type of Garden

The Clotilde Irvine Sensory Garden is designed to stimulate the senses, incorporating plantings and features that welcome visitors with invigorating aromas, lush textures and foliage, brightly hued blooms and the calming sounds of wildlife and trickling water from the "Sensory Garden Fountain". Encouraging a mindful connection to nature, this fully accessible garden was designed for the Arboretum’s Nature-Based Therapeutics program and is a model display of containers and planting designs suitable for a variety of gardening styles and abilities. 

Senosry Garden dedication in 1996

Sensory Garden dedication and butterfly release in July 1996.

Garden Plants

If you're looking for the full list of plants available in the garden, please check out our Plant Finder where you can search by location. 

  • Brown's honeysuckle (Lonicera x brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet') 
  • Coneflower (Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit')
  • Crabapple (Malus 'Prairifire')
  • Dotted horsemint (Monarda punctata)
  • False indigo (Baptisia 'Solar Flare' Prairieblues™)
  • Maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba)
  • Manchurian lilac (Syringa pubescens subsp. patula 'Miss Kim')
  • Tatarian dogwood (Cornus alba 'Regnzam' Red Gnome)
  • Threadleaf tickseed (Coreopsis verticillata 'Golden Showers')
  • Yellow prairie grass (Sorghastrum nutans 'MNYG318153' Golden Sunset®)
Lonicera x brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet'
Ginkgo biloba 'Autumn Gold'
Coreopsis verticillata 'Golden Showers'
Malus 'Prairifire'

Additional Photos

Sensory Garden in summer
2 women in the Sensory Garden
Wintert lights in the Sensory Garden
Fall in the Sensory Garden
Path by the Senosry Garden
Senosry Garden sign