Appealing to the Senses

The story behind Glendale’s Sensory Garden

One of Glendale’s prides of joy, the Sensory Garden, was completed in 2002 south of Northern Avenue on 55th Avenue. It’s a serene location that Glendale residents can enjoy alone or with family and friends.

Long-time Valley resident Elsie McCarthy donated the money for the garden for “the purpose of establishing, purchasing, improving, expanding or maintaining a scented and tactile garden for the visually handicapped.” And this has been accomplished through the use of specific plants and trees for textures and scents, water features for sound, touch and sight, and evening lighting for dramatic visuals.

The garden has five areas of interest:

• The Wisdom Garden
• The Celebration Garden
• The Contemplation Garden
• The Reflection Garden
• The Story Totem Garden

Each one of these locations has a special water feature. In the Story Totem Garden, there’s a sculpture that’s a mosaic tile water feature called Seeing Beyond. It was created by artists Joan Baron and Robert Miley, who were also responsible for creating the Sensory Garden with the help of landscape architect Kristina Floor.

This beautiful piece of public art truly is a great place to awaken the senses, but Glendale boasts many more. Click here to learn about Glendale’s various art programs.

West Valley Cultural Plan Survey

The West Valley Arts Council, West Valley cities, and all of the area's arts, culture and heritage organizations are working together to develop arts-related cultural amenities for the West Valley.  An important first step in this process is to find out what you want.  Here’s how you can participate: Please take 10 minutes to complete a public opinion survey. Read more | Click here to take the survey.