What do you see? Can you feel anything? Hear anything? How much fragrance is in the air? Is there memory there of being able to pluck a leaf and nibble? Or is sight the only sense that you consider when you think of your garden? Perhaps you hear an occasional bird song, or the buzz of a bee; maybe some of your flowers are the old-fashioned fragrant variety. But too often, we think of our gardens as a visual experience, a picture to be captured on film.
Many of us work, however, and return home as dusk is falling and the colors of the garden are fading to grey. Many of us enjoy sitting in our gardens after dark. Certainly the caress of the breeze and the memory of the beauty that surrounds us is pleasant. Adding an element to this--the element of sound, makes that pleasure all the more deep.
If I asked you to write a radio ad, and to make sure that listeners would know that the ad takes place in a garden, what sounds would you include? Bird song, certainly. The buzzing of bees, perhaps. Maybe the whirring of an old-fashioned reel mower. But one can't perpetually mow the lawn to create a sense of garden.
What we can do is incorporate elements into our garden designs that help to create sound. First, the birds. Adding a bird bath and feeder will attract them; once there those birds will fill the air with their song. Pennington Seeds offers some great tips for attracting all kinds of birds to your garden.
Then we need the busy buzz of the bee, and the whirr of the hummingbird. Bees come of their own accord when you provide flowers; hummers may need the extra enticement of special, tubular flowers. They love red in summer, but in spring they seem to prefer bright blue. Check The Hummingbird Watcher's Club for a good list of plants and other information on attracting and caring for these brilliant creatures. Hummingbirds is another great source of information, with spectacular pictures.
Hummers and birds are both attracted to places that offer a water supply. And nothing is more pleasant to the ears, or more cooling in the heat of a sunny July day than the sound of water burbling into a pond. If you have limited space for a pond, check the last two articles in Suite 101's Eco-Gardening, where Barbara Martin gives several suggestions for small space water features. If you want a full-fledged pond and waterfall, a nice place to start is Pete's Pond Page, where Pete takes you through the whole process of building his pond, and then lets you see how it has developed over the years. Once you've built it, you're bound to attract a frog or two. I've spent many a pleasant evening listening to the croaking chorus.
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