The administrative staff at Saint Elizabeth Home enlisted the services of WDA to design a sensory garden to serve as a relaxing oasis for residents and their families. Designed to provide opportunities for passive strolling, contemplation, and outdoor interaction, the garden contains two intimate spaces connected by a gentle, meandering, discovery walkway. Each space provides a lush, green setting, and offers a series of features and experiences designed to stimulate the senses. Selected features include a mounded lawn area, a bird sanctuary garden with a bird bath, bird feeders, and bird houses, and a butterfly garden with butterfly houses. Dense plantings of flowering trees, shrubs, and perennials combine with these garden features to create a colorful, aromatic setting that attract and encourage wildlife. In addition, plantings were carefully selected to provide flower and foliage colors that reinforce a sense of calm and tranquility within the garden. Along the walkway, strategically placed seating areas provide opportunities for rest and are oriented for optimal viewing of selected garden features. Edges of the garden are mounded and densely planted with deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs to focus views into the garden and screen views of adjacent driveways and parking area. To ensure the highest levels of comfort and enjoyment for visitors, the garden is carefully designed to provide relief from the strong afternoon sun, and to maintain full accessibility and visibility.

DETAILS

• Location: East Greenwich, RI
• Client: St. Elizabeth Home
• Completion Date: 2014

SERVICES PROVIDED

• Landscape Architecture