Located behind the Emily and Jerry Spiegel Theater, along California Avenue.
The Sensory Garden was the brain child of landscape designer and former Arboretum board member, Carol Mercer. Mercer was on the board at the time she created the ‘Secret Garden’ for the 1993 New York Flower Show ( one of the show's last years.) She designed it for the blind and physically challenged and it was planted in raised beds so visitors in wheelchairs could easily access the plants.
The plants are to be tactile and aromatic to awaken the senses, lending it its new name, which ties into the fact that in 1981, Hofstra University became the first private institution of higher learning in the nation to be 100 percent accessible to the physically challenged.
At the ’93 N.Y. Flower Show the ‘Secret Garden’ won two Gold Awards and afterwards Mercer generously donated ‘the design’ to Hofstra’s Arboretum. The renamed ‘Sensory Garden’ was permanently installed, under Mercer’s guidance, with pride by Hofstra’s Grounds, Carpentry , Plumbing , Electrical , Painting and HVAC crews in August of 1993.
Over the years, many of the plants have been changed to accommodate the shady position the garden holds on California Avenue. Many tropical plants , from Hofstra's greenhouse, are added each spring and then fragrant tulips, daffodils and hyacinths are planted in the fall for the spring display. Summer is the hardest season to plan for as the full sun needed to grow so many of the best aromatic and tactile plants is limited.