For every garden confined by length and width and the amount of resources, time and energy available to tend it, another garden exists.

This is the garden, often unseen, that captures our imagination and spirit as we stroll along the garden path. It’s the garden we experience with all our senses and emotions, and made more wonderful by the treasured stories within it.

The sensory garden at Kansas University's Audio-Reader building features full accessibility to visually impaired persons. Gardening volunteer Janis Hutchison, left, and Diana Frederick, development director at Audio-Reader, look over a commemorative brick walking path for tributes to special people, events and sayings. The brick path helps fund garden improvements, Frederick said.

Such is the garden at Kansas Audio-Reader Network Studios, 1120 W. 11th St.

Started by a handful of people in the fall of 1996 as a volunteer project for Make a Difference Day, the simple kidney shaped garden was placed among a patch of grass on the gently sloping grounds of Audio-Reader. So it could be enjoyed by visually impaired people, the garden was packed with more than 100 bulbs, lamb’s ear, allium, mint, tansy, oregano, chives, lemon balm and creeping thyme.

Today, a brick path meanders through a much-expanded garden, past wind chimes, bird feeders, garden bells and benches. Along the garden path, flowers, herbs and shrubs grow, some in raised beds. The path ends at a gazebo.

“The goal of the Audio-Reader Sensory Garden is to provide an outdoor garden environment that stimulates a variety of senses, making the garden particularly accessible to individuals with visual impairments,” said Diana Frederick, development director at Audio-Reader. “Plantings include those that are very fragrant or have interesting textures; most plants are labeled with special markers that identify the plant in braille and in print.”

Frederick leads me through this extraordinary garden. One step off the parking lot is the first step into the sensory garden. A small bubbler, donated and installed by members of the Sunflower Water Garden Society, greets us with the gentle murmur of water. We pass under a wooden arch flanked by two cherubs, both with a book in hand. Fittingly, the fingers of one figurine gently rest on the page of the book, as if reading braille.

The brick pathway begins. Interspersed among the bricks are more than 135 specially engraved ones, donated by individuals and organizations to support the garden. The names etched within the bricks are the stories this garden preserves. Some of the bricks are memorials, others in honor of people. All are tied in some way to this garden.

Several herbs, noted for strong fragrances, grow in raised beds along the path. Mint and a host of scented geraniums release their fragrances as Frederick and I break off leaves.

“A lot of people don’t know how to experience a scented garden,” Frederick said. “They just stick their nose in the plant.”

Braille-labeled plants with a strong sense of fragrance and touch are featured. Leaves of a chocolate mint plant give off a mouth-watering scent when rubbed or broken.

That technique doesn’t activate the plant’s perfume. She suggests gently rubbing the leaf between your fingers to release its fragrance.

“This also allows you to experience the unique texture of each plant,” Frederick said.

We pass a Mother-in-Law’s tongue plant. Frederick invites me to stroke its waxy leaves and feel the point at the end. This contrasts with the feathery tansy that we swish with our hands as we pass. We feel the fluffy yarrow, the hard, knobby giant reed and soft lamb’s ears. Each one offers a different tactile sensation.

The sounds of wind chimes, the songs of birds and the chattering of squirrels harmonize with the Campanile in the background, creating a natural orchestra for this garden. To be sure, this garden is designed to be enjoyed by people who sense and absorb it rather than see it.

We finally reach the gazebo, which was donated by an Audio-Reader volunteer. It provides a welcome resting spot at the end of the brick pathway. Melodious wooden wind chimes sound near the entrance. Colorful flower baskets hang from the angled ceiling.

Though still a work in progress, Frederick said, “The Audio-Reader Sensory Garden has become a landscape quilt, quietly weaving many lives together into a unique outdoor sanctuary for the senses.”

Carol Boncella is education coordinator at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and home and garden writer for the Journal-World.

The fuzzy white leaves of the lamb's ear plant are especially delightful to children and sight-impaired persons, said Frederick.

	The Audio-Reader Sensory Garden, 1120 W. 11th St. (turn right at Audio-Reader sign), is wheelchair-accessible and open to the public sighted and sight-impaired. If you or your group would like to arrange a guided tour or to make a donation, contact Diana Frederick, 864-4634.