Enjoying the garden is a tactile experience, and that usually comes as a surprise.

We don’t pay enough attention to the sensation of soft grass, or a chamomile lawn under our bare feet, the gentle brush of chenille and grass panaches as we walk by their borders, the silky coolness of flower petals in the evening, the velvety textures of lamb’s ears, borage, dusty miller and woody thyme, the ticklish lace of fennel, dill and ferns, or even the sharp and bristly touches of holly, hellebores, or coneflowers.

Most people take these experiences for granted, since we’ve all been conditioned to enjoy our gardens for color and scent, but gardeners have known the secret for a long time, and used it again and again to create enchanting landscapes: walkable ground covers, wispy textures growing over the garden path, flexible fuzzy wands bowing in the wind, surprise soft and spiky textures like cypresses and moss roses.

Plant tactile plants in pots on balconies or around patios to enjoy the stress relief you get just by touching them. The therapeutic effect is amplified by their soothing scents.