Jelgava Municipality Concludes Series of Sensory Garden Workshops
The final workshop on creating sensory gardens, this time focused on the sense of touch, has been held in Jelgava Municipality. It closes a series of five workshops under the international “Green Secrets” project involving partners from Zemgale and Samogitia.
Jelgava Municipality has announced that the concluding workshop on creating sensory gardens has taken place as part of the international project “Discover and Feel the Green Secrets in Zemgale and Samogitia!” (“Green Secrets”). Sensory gardens are gardens designed to be experienced through different senses. The final workshop focused on touch. Four earlier workshops in the project covered sight, hearing, smell and taste.
In the first part of the session, landscape architect Dr. arch. Natalija Ņitavska gave a lecture on perceiving a sensory garden through touch. She covered tactile processes in such gardens, the use of touch in garden and landscape design, plant textures and sensations, and the textures of materials and surfaces.
Participants also took part in a blindfold-style experiment, trying to identify various plants by touch with their eyes closed.
Eleja Manor Park
At the end of the workshop, participants could see Eleja Manor Park and its improved north-western section, known as the Forest Park (Mežaparks). Under the project, new trails have been created there, information stands and benches installed, and a children's playground and picnic area set up, along with sensory gardens.
Project partners
The lead partner of the project is the Žemaitija Protected Areas Directorate in Lithuania. Jelgava Municipality, Bauska Municipality, the Joniškis Tourism and Business Information Centre and the Lithuanian Fund for Nature also take part.
