MLA Alumnus is Helping Transform the Lucy Maud Montgomery Gardens

The Lucy Maud Montgomery Children’s Garden of the Senses will offer a new way to explore nature and literature in Halton Hills when it opens this spring 2016.  The Children’s Garden of the Senses uses plants and other elements with distinct sensory qualities to stimulate children’s senses of smell, sight, hearing, taste and touch.

Eileen Foley, a Master of Landscape Architecture alumnus is the project manager and landscape architect who is helping to transform the Lucy Maud Montgomery Garden in Norval Park to appeal to younger people.

The Garden draws its inspiration of focusing on nature in a sensory way and on children's literature from Lucy Maud Montgomery (LMM) and her writings. Her children's books, including her best known work, 'Anne of Green Gables', are world renown and have been enjoyed by many. What is perhaps lesser known is that LMM writings contain vivid depictions of landscapes that strongly evoke the senses. 

Above:  Left: design map of the LMM Children's Garden which will open Spring 2016. Right:  Eileen Foley at the construction site Images courtesy of Eileen Foley.

The Children's Garden of the Senses will be an interactive sensory garden that will be used by children to regain contact with nature and obtain a fuller appreciation of nature through the use of the human senses.  The sensory garden will also be a restorative garden for individuals of all abilities that will promote human well-being through sensory experience. 

The LMM Children's Garden will also provide enrichment to those with specialized needs.  The Garden will incorporate accessibility design considerations (e.g. children with sight limitations) that go beyond the minimum statutory standards to allow all children to have an active interaction with the Garden.

The Garden will have sensory gardens that make use of plants with special sensory qualities to stimulate the five senses: sight, touch, hearing, smell and taste. Other interesting landscape elements that accentuate the senses will be built into the garden for the children to interact with. The sensory experience is achieved through journey and exploration (travelling along a main sensory pathway and entering keyhole sensory gardens along the way).  The Garden will also provide for children's literacy activities.

Image above:  Construction of the Lucy Maud Montgomery Children's Garden.  Images courtesy of Eileen Foley.

See the Independent Free Press news article here