McGraw Family Garden Of The Senses

This garden is in the style of an English Herbaceous perennial border and is in bloom from late Spring through the end of Summer.  The Garden has multiple areas of different microclimates including:

• The central beds are sunny and are themed as mixed-color borders. These beds are designed to be colorful for six months of the year and showcase how plants of various heights, colors and textures can be used together to create a beautiful garden.
• The bed in front of the Windmill is a cool-color bed of mostly blues and silvers. Cool colors recede in the landscape and allow the Windmill to appear to be further away than it really is.
• The central-rear bed is a white border. This part of the garden showcases plants of various shades of white and silver.  The bed was inspired by the famous White Garden of Sissinghurst in the Weald of Kent, England.
• The shade borders are examples of various shade-loving plants including the ever popular Hosta combined with ferns, Ophiopogon, and many other shade-loving species. There is also a giant Gunnera manicata that is quite rare in New England.  This species loves cool-wet climates but requires protection to survive the winters on the Cape.  We protect it with bales of straw all winter.

The Garden of Hope is a vibrant, colorful garden filled with bright colors, interesting shaped plants and wonderful sounds of water.  The plants in this space have been chosen for their color, texture and interesting forms.  The water features combine the beauty of stone with the sounds of water falling.  Water plants are also found growing in the pools.  The garden changes with each season.

The new garden was designed by the internationally recognized award winning firm Dirtworks Landscape Architecture PC.  The garden will provide universal access and programs for those with a range of physical and mental disabilities. The garden location was chosen to provide expansive new vistas that have rarely been seen by visitors before.  Visitors will wind their way through scenic landscapes on walkways designed to bypass challenging hilly terrain, providing easier access to the Flume Fountain.

David Kamp, a principal at Dirtworks, has dedicated his career to exploring how design with nature can improve health. David used the design in this garden to help people make a connection to nature. Using that personal connection as inspiration he has also looked at larger scales of health – how design with nature can improve community health and environmental health. Visitors will be able to engage in the garden which also offers a range of therapeutic attributes, including range of motion and cognitive skills. Sensitive to the discrete needs of each visitor, the garden will provide important health and wellness benefits to all visitors. Heritage Museums & Gardens will be working with several Cape organizations serving people with disabilities and other health challenges to welcome their groups or individual clients to explore the McGraw Family Garden of the Senses at their own pace and in their own time.