In September of 2012, with the help of a Captain Planet Foundation Small Grant, Family Intervention Specialists was able to install a Tranquility and Sensory Garden on their camps in Hiram GA. The gardens are a useful place for therapists to work with children as an extension of their existing Expressive Therapy Division. The Tranquility Garden was placed underneath an existing large oak tree and included native ferns. The Sensory Garden is filled with plants that evoke the use of all five senses: touch, smell, taste, hearing, and sight. Steps leading to the gardens are made from recycled pieces of concrete.
Children were excited to see and learn the names of plants and how they related to each particular sense. For example in the sight garden a butterfly bush was covered with little moths and big butterflies right after it was planted and the Alabama Crimson Trumpet Creeper plant has crimson red blooms. The gardens will benefit a varying number of people over time and will continue to be a place for groups to meet, families to re-connect, and children to learn about natural life and play.