Fragrance Garden

The intimate Alice Recknagel Ireys Fragrance Garden was designed to bring people in close contact with plants to stimulate the senses of smell and touch. Created in 1955, it was the first garden in the country designed to accommodate people with visual impairments, though its multisensory approach appeals to all visitors, particularly children.

Visitors are encouraged to touch and smell the plants here. Braille and raised text labels identify many of the specimens, which grow in raised beds at just the right height for children and for people in wheelchairs. Garden beds are arranged by theme: plants with scented leaves, plants for touch, fragrant flowers, and kitchen herbs. It is a four-season outdoor garden, and different plants are present at different times of the year.

Highlights

This container in the Fragrance Garden is filled with lemon-scented plants. Photo by Blanca Begert.

Lantana camara (lantana) in June. Photo by Alvina Lai.

Salvia officinalis ‘Berggarten‘ (common sage). Photo by Lee Patrick.

Lagurus ovatus (bunny tail grass). Photo by Alvina Lai.

Solanum quitoense (naranijilla) is a strange, spiky plant in the Fragrance Garden. Photo by Blanca Begert.

Plant Collection

View an interactive list of plants in this location.

Open Plant Finder

Garden Layout

An illustrated map of a garden with an oval path and four beds named Fragrant Flowers, Interesting Textures, Fragrant Foliage, and Fragrant Herbs & Culinary Plants

Video

Learn about the history of the Fragrance Garden and how its special, sensory plant palette engages individuals in the Garden’s Seasonal Highlights Memory Tour program.