The Touch Garden

With so much focus on the color and scent of garden plants, the fact that they can offer an interesting tactile experience is often overlooked. Just adding a few feelable plants, even if you don't create a whole "touch garden," will add a new dimension to your landscape. Touch landscapes enhance the gardening experience for the visually impaired and also work well for families with curious young children. The plants listed here offer a variety of touchable leaves, flowers, or stems, making them ideal for walkways and seating areas.

Plant choice

The plants you choose depend on the textures you prefer. Whether you’re looking for soft and silky, fuzzy, lush and "green feeling", feathery, waxy, or just plain interesting, you’re likely to find several that will grow well in your area. Plants with large leaves are also good candidates. Take care to avoid poisonous plants, plants that attract a lot of insects, and plants that will leave an unpleasant smell on your hands (unless you don’t mind bugs and smells, that is).

Reactive plants
There are literally hundreds of species of plants that move, although most are not cultivated. Probably the best known is the Mimosa (Mimosa pudica), also known as sensitive plant or sleeping grass, which folds up its leaves when touched. This tropical requires temperatures between 60 and 85 degrees, however, and so is suitable for only the warmest outdoor gardens or indoors. Another touch plant, balsam (Impatiens balsamina) or “touch-me-not”, gets its name from the fact that when you gently squeeze a green seed pod, the pod will spring open and send seeds shooting in all directions. It also produces delicate flowers in white, pink, or maroon. This annual is much less demanding than Mimosa and will grow in sun or partial shade in most average climates.

Possible touch garden plants include:

Soft and silky
Cape Jasmine (Gardenia jasminoides), Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica), Gerbera daisy (Gerbera jamesonii), Hibiscus (Hibiscus spp.), Peony (Paeonia spp.), Poppy (Papaver spp.), Rose mallow - Hibiscus coccineus, Lily (Lilium sp.)

Papery
Honesty or Money plant (Lunaria annua), Statice (Limonium latifolium), Globe Amaranth (Gomphrena globosa)

Fuzzy
Woolly thyme (Thymus praecox), Horehound (Marrubium spp.), Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina), Mullein (Verbascum olympicum), Pussy willow (Salix discolor), banana mint (Menta arvensis), Tansy (Tanacetum argenteum)

Feathery
Gay-feather (Liatris spicata), Baby’s tears (Phyllanthus Liebmannianus, formerly Helxine soleirolii), Astilbe (Astilbe spp.), Celosia (Celosia argentea), Dill (Anethum graveolens), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Fountain grass (Pennisetum villosum) (use with care as leaf edges are sharp), Hare’s tale grass (Hordeum jubatum), Feather grass (Stipa pennata), Squirrel-tail grass (Hordeum jubatum) (use caution as this can become invasive)

Planting design

Touchable plants are of little use if they're hard to get to. To bring the plants within reach, place them in large planters and hanging baskets near seating. Alternatively, use raised beds of about two feet with an edge that's stable and wide enough to sit on. Keeping your favorites in pots on a patio table will make sure you can fully enjoy the plants. If you want to indulge in one type texture, plant a grouping of one kind plant, or plants with similar textures in an area large enough to run your hands through. If you prefer contrast, however, plantings with differing textures also work well.

Water

The cool, soothing feel of water, either running or still, also offers rewards to the sense of touch. A simple still pond can be constructed in one afternoon with minimal cost, and a waterfall is also easy to add. See Backyard ponds and Backyard fountains and waterfalls for more ideas.