Smell the flowers!
Garden of the Five Senses opens at Pittsburgh Botanic Garden
Smell the peppery aroma of basil. See swirls of pink, white and yellow petunia and purple vinca vine in a kaleidoscope.
Climb on a web-shaped balance beam made of stumps and logs.
Listen as you strike metal flowers or a xylophone, creating the sound of cymbals and drums.
Check out the edible plants in the Pizza Garden.
Visitors can do all of this and more in the Garden of the
Five Senses, the newest attraction at the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden.
“Gardens are places of healing and serenity. They’re really needed right now,” said Keith S. Kaiser, executive director of the 460-acre property in North Fayette and Collier.
On July 30, Mr. Kaiser joined more than 100 others touring the garden, which includes the Weisbrod Learning Pavilion.
“That’s where we will hold lots of hands-on classes and programs for children and adults,” said Beth Exton, director of development for the nonprofit. “The pavilion can be rented for private parties.”
The design for the sensory garden evolved over eight years, said Cindy Tyler, a principal in the South Side firm Terra Design Studios.
“I have waited so long to do this in my hometown,” said Ms. Tyler, a Pittsburgh native who earned her landscape architecture degree at Penn State University and has led the development of more than 25 family gardens in 12 states. Considering the needs of autistic children, who are highly sensitive to light, was important.
“Experiencing a shady garden calms autistic children,” Ms. Tyler said during the July ceremony.
The first stop in the new
“Gardens are places of healing and serenity. They’re really needed right now.”
— Keith S. Kaiser
garden is a sniff and savor area with scarlet runner beans, broccoli, corn, dinosaur kale, eggplant, Swiss chard, tomatoes and three compost bins.
In the Eye Spy section stands a large steel kaleidoscope. It’s a bit more than 5 feet high with several brass optical teleidoscopes mounted at different levels, including one for people in wheelchairs. A teleidoscope is a kind of kaleidoscope with a lens and open view that forms visual patterns from objects outside the instrument, rather than inside. This one gives visitors a swirling view of purple vinca vine, green and white coleus and trailing petunias.
The botanic garden opened to the public in 2015 and reopened in June. A new welcome center with a cafe and outdoor deck that will overlook the woods is under construction. Slated to open in November, the new building will house two classrooms that will overlook a patio and a water feature.
A popular place for receptions, the botanic garden includes a restored barn made of cedar and stone. Visitors enter the grounds through the Peirce Family celebration garden planted with annuals, native perennial flowers and the Walk of Thyme, showcasing varieties of that herb. A tall wrought-iron gazebo in the garden’s center is the scene of many weddings.
Next along the garden path is a hillside pollinator garden. Planted last year, it includes native ivory colored yarrow, vivid raspberry cone flowers, goldenrod, Joe Pye Weed and Veronica.
Other features include a lotus pond, Japanese garden, wildflower and dogwood tree meadows and the Allegheny Plateau Woodlands with native trees and other plants.
The Pittsburgh Botanic Garden was planted on land badly scarred by logging and mining. Limestone beds remove aluminum hydroxide in water that drains from the mines. New plants and trees are added to the garden each year.
The Allegheny County Regional Asset District Board provided two capital grants totaling $225,000 for the new sensory garden, said Shannon Musgrave, a RAD spokeswoman.
Staff and visitors must wear masks in the Bayer Welcome Center and other buildings or within 6 feet of other groups. Timed tickets must be purchased on the website, pittsburghbotanicgarden.org. Summer hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Admission is $10 for adults, $6 for ages 3-17 and free for members and children under 3.
Information: pittsburghbotanicgarden.org or 412444-4464.