Someone recently told me that if you have led a relatively healthy life with no trace of cancer before the age of sixty, kept up your cardio-vascular system and maintained a positive outlook on life, chances are that modern medicine will see you live well beyond your retirement years. As many studies have shown, the population boom that resulted after World War II is starting to play a significant role in how we look at the societal needs of our future, both in terms of recreational and health concerns. 

Many of the babies born during that era, commonly referred to as ‘Baby Boomers’, are beginning to enter their elderly years. As many get ready to retire, they find their needs changing. Many are also finding a new respect for personal gardening.

	Is your garden ready for an older you?

Making Gardening Accessible

For years we in the professional design field have referred to ‘universal’ or ‘accessible’ design to address the needs of the disabled, whether limited by mobility, visual or audio impairments, or even cognitively as we see in many learning disabilities. With the ‘Boomers’ entering the Golden Years of their life, these design issues are now being concentrated on the elderly and those who have become deficient or disabled later in life.

The notion of accessible design has been readily welcomed in the gardening and horticultural fields. Both Canada and the United States have recognized schools for the training of occupational therapists in the field of horticultural therapy. Some of the curriculum in this field of rehabilitation and convalescent care is based on various reincarnations of ‘new age’ medicine, practiced to a proven degree of measure.

Much has emerged through the sympathetic design approaches of landscape architects for clients with specialized needs, for example the inability to bend over due to back strain, fused vertebrae, restriction to a wheelchair, and even debilitating and degenerative diseases commonly found within the elderly population like multiple sclerosis (MS), osteoporosis and arthritis.

Accessible design allows one to garden well into the golden years

Accessible garden design has also adopted many ancient practices which utilized and incorporated fragrant plants for the benefit of those with visual impairments and deficiencies, cognitive learning disabilities, and memory enhancement for those suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia. By recognizing the needs of an increasingly aging population, horticultural therapy and accessible garden design have spun off secondary benefits as well. They now collectively assist in the treatment of more social diseases such as alcoholism and substance abuse, as well any forms of abuse including physical and mental.

It is my goal to acquaint you with the fundamentals and potential benefits of accessible garden design in this special series of articles in Stefan’s Corner over the coming weeks  In one segment I will take you on a trip through a couple of gardens designed for therapeutic rehabilitation and ease. In a following segment, I will discuss the various ways in which you can make a garden accessible by ADA (Accessibility Design Association) standards, focusing on ways to build or make an accessible garden.

In another I will address the need for proper tools to make a job easier or to address special needs. The notion of fragrance and the therapeutic value of plants will be reviewed and the sort of plants available to northern gardeners will be examined. And while on the topic of plant material, the notion of tactile gardens for the blind and mentally challenged will be addressed to provide a more holistic approach to gardening.

	We'll examine the power of horticucltural therapy

First A Little Homework...

In preparation for this important and increasingly relevant series of Stefan’s Corner articles, I’ll ask you to begin by looking around your yard, or even the yards of members of your family. Ask yourself, “What could they do to improve their quality of life if a disability were to befall them or if their needs were to change as they age?” Or you might ask yourself “Have I made provisions for when I become older and less mobile?” Or maybe this already describes your condition, and you just haven’t become acquainted with the opportunities that are available through accessible and therapeutic gardening.

All that is about to change! So until then, I wish you happy gardening - for many years to come!

(back to top of page)