sensory engagement

As is true of many things we savor in our lives, our perception of texture is filled with subtlety and nuance. This is particularly true in gardens, where space, form, color and texture dance together to create our experience of a living entity and, for designers and installers, of the envisioned entity as well:  We start by defining the entity's function and style - make it an outdoor room, a neoclassical knot garden or a meditative space - then layer hardscape and plant materials to engage the five senses one by one or all at once.   Texture plays a large role in creating this sensory engagement:  It's the lure that invites observers to pause and linger, to breathe deep and compose themselves within the environment.  In that sense, texture is the twin of form and the companion to color in the triad of basic garden relationships. Texture also involves an