ANDOVER, Mass. — Sensory gardens are popping up in local communities to help people with disabilities and cognitive challenges explore and learn in a safe environment. A brand-new one in Andover lets visitors immerse themselves in nature by touching and smelling the plants around them.
“Smell the leaves, touch the flower, beautiful yellow color,” said Eileen Reilly, who serves on Andover’s Commission on Disability.
Away from the busy downtown and noisy traffic is an isolated garden that is welcoming to all. And it encourages visitors to touch, smell, and listen to the environment around them.
“Fifteen minutes here could be just a lovely experience,” said Reilly. “I think what we’ve come up with is a very intimate space in a lot of ways. You could sit here and just love the smells and look at the flowers, or it’s also very spacious and lends itself, I think, to exploration.”
The town acquired an old pig farm and is slowly developing it. One piece is the sensory garden, with plenty of benches, wide paths for wheelchair accessibility, and raised beds filled with carefully chosen plants and flowers that captivate the senses and help stimulate memory.
“Do you want to smell the flower?” Julee Armitage asked her daughter Remy. Julee’s daughter has already embraced this new spot.
“I think it was just an opportunity for her to completely engage in everything that was around her. And I wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction from her; it was awesome,” said Armitage, who is also a member of Andover’s Commission on Disability.
Julee says Remy is a sensory learner, so smelling the mint, touching the flowers, and looking at their bright colors has helped her even after just one visit.
“Looking at their bright colors has helped her even after just one visit,” said Armitage. “You can tell her things, but she needs to see pictures and actually be in the space and experience it. So I think a place like this, she can, you tell her to smell something and she smells and actually gets that feedback in real time.”
For parents with children with disabilities, sensory gardens provide a calm, safe space, as opposed to playgrounds, which can sometimes be a little chaotic.
“It’s also an onslaught of children running, screaming, laughing, and that can be hard sometimes for a kid with sensory overload,” said Armitage. “When you’re here, it’s all about listening and watching and feeling, so you kind of get the opportunity to really engage those other senses.”
Connecting with those senses and getting familiar with the space around them builds the confidence to explore even more the next time they walk through these gates.
“I think just the excitement of exploration and coming away from here feeling that they know a little bit more about flowers, and the next time they’re in a similar situation, they’re more apt to explore again,” said Reilly.
Andover’s Commission on Disabilities is still looking at ways to expand the garden by adding wind and water features or a sand pit for kids to dig in and play with. Already, a Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts troop has offered to help maintain the garden in any way they can.
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