Eva Nemeth
Is there a better feeling than the first day of summer when you can take your shoes off and walk on the grass barefoot for the first time that year? How many times have you passed a flower bed and found it totally irresistible to run your hand through a swathe of grasses or put out your palm to touch a gnarled tree trunk?
Texture is often the secret ingredient that makes a garden sing. Like a room, a plate of food or an outfit, layering with texture adds a depth and understated allure that the froth and colour of a busy (albeit beautiful) English garden can’t quite compete with. It’s about the interplay of textures, rather than colours, that really sets a magical space apart from the rest. Glossy and smooth next to nubbly and knotted, geometric next to organic, swooshy and fluid alongside slick and static.
The film that springs to mind when I think of texture and tactility is the visual feast that is A Single Man. The John Lautner building that is George’s – played by Colin Firth – home, has become a by-line for deliciously satisfying mid-century geometry. But what makes it even more so is that it is ensconced in dense, lush riotous planting that simultaneously clashes and chimes perfectly with the building.
But we don’t all have to live in a mid-century masterpiece to enjoy this effect. Another garden that springs to mind when thinking about texture is a small Kensington garden by Alasdair Cameron of Cameron Gardens which I remember pouring over (literally pawing at the page). Dutch pavers, laid in herringbone formation and on edge with a largely monochrome palette of characterful greens – ferns, evergreen mounds, carpets of low growing Mind-Your-Own-Business and espaliered trees stretching up the walls – combined to make a richly texture space in a bijou environment. The garden Ula Maria designed for her father is another textural textbook, with plants from a different clime – drought tolerant pines and grasses jostling and rustling in a desaturated palette of greens and taupes against lots of natural materials, making a garden that is alive with texture and form.
Tactile, sensory gardens are increasingly being employed as tools to combat and soothe a spectrum of mental health issues. Sensory stimulation is critical to healthy brain development and particularly beneficial to children with sensory processing issues, such as autism and other disabilities. Sensory gardens, rich in texture and tactility, are increasingly being used in schools and hospitals to help fight anxiety, fidgeting and attention disorders such as ADHD, helping children develop non-verbal communication skills. For adults post neuro-injury or those suffering dementia, tactile gardens can be a place that stimulate and soothe in world where they feel cut off from their senses.
There are lots of ways we can all add some sensory stimulation to our gardens, making them spaces that tickle more than our visual tastebuds. Beyond touch, sound is a brilliant way to add an extra layer of interest to a garden. The rustle of leaves, the crunch of gravel or the calming trickle of water are all elements that bring a garden to life. And happily, easily incorporated into your garden at home.
Emily Erlam's London garden is a wonderfully textural affair
How to create a tactile garden
Plants
Think about plants beyond their aesthetic value – do they have lovely velvety leaves like Stachys Byzantina? Grasses like Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Bunny Tails’ have a mop of cotton wool seedheads that beg to be touched. Tall upright grasses like Calamagrostis acutiflora x Karl Foerster will make a lovely whoosh in the breeze when planted in groups, while Briza media has delicate flowers that tinkle in the wind. Big palms such as Washingtonia robusta will make a wonderful rattle when the wind gets up and will be happy in a large container (although not frost hardy). Climbers will add texture and interest to flat masonry and also soften unwanted noise of traffic.
Materials
Look to the natural world for tactile materials – rough-hewn stone, unmown grass with mown pathways to contrast, smooth polished wood, or crushed stone gravel. When choosing bricks, opt for those made from natural materials like clay pavers, and think about laying them in a way that will emphasise their texture – herringbone for example. And if using smooth slabs of stone, consider breaking it up with gravel interludes, perhaps planted with self-seeders or even a carpet-forming species like lawn chamomile.
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