Bring the five senses into your garden

By NZONG XIONG - McClatchy Newspapers FRESNO, Calif. -- Ever smell a flower and know you'll never forget its heady fragrance? Maybe you ran your fingers over some leaves that left you pondering the texture? Plants can stimulate our different senses for various reasons. Flowers might have bold, exotic forms to dazzle our eyes or foliage that have soft fuzz for our fingers to touch. Whether you garden in a container or a flower bed, try growing plants that will excite your sense of taste, smell, sight, hearing and touch. They can add a different sensory experience to your garden that everyone can enjoy. "Gardens are more than just something to look at," says Leonard Ichimoto, a nurseryman at H&E Nursery in Clovis, Calif. By growing a selection of these plants, it's another way of connecting with the earth, he says. "If you're a... [read full story]