1. Creating an Enabled Garden Bruce Dunn Joanna Sanford Jane Walling

2. What is an Enabled Garden? Any landscape, garden, patio, or greenhouse space designed around the needs of someone who is physically, developmentally, or psychologically unable to tend a traditional garden. Types of Enabled Gardens  Therapy – therapist guided activities  Healing – retreat or place of respite  Adaptive – designed for accessibility  Memory – benefits Alzheimer and dementia patients  Sensory – focused on color, texture, and fragrance

3. Features  Directed & programmed activities  Modified features for accessibility & use  Well defined spaces & perimeters  Carefully chosen plants  Support & safety features

4. Our Focus: Sensory Gardens  Sight  Smell  Auditory  Taste  Touch

5. Sight  Bright colors to show contrast  Well lit  Simple transitions  Place & plant markings  Shapes & numbers  Symmetry

6. Smell  Herbs Rosemary Basil Oregano Mint  Flowers Stock Roses  Water & Moss  Soil

7. Auditory  Water features & fountains  Wind chimes  Leaves  Birds, frogs & insects

8. Taste  Herbs  Honeysuckle  Fruits & vegetables Note: use organic & avoid hazardous chemicals. Of the senses, taste is the one that should be on a case by case basis due to extreme sensory conditions

9. Touch  Tactile  Fine motor skills  Gross motor skills  Weight  Warm & cold

10. Whatever the goal of your garden, it should be a place where people of various ages and abilities can experience the benefits of gardening easily and safely throughout the entire year. Just a few of our local Therapy Gardens  Mattey’s Garden – Matthew Whaley Elementary School  Freedom Park, Williamsburg Botanical Gardens – Botanical Therapy Garden  Chambrel Assisted Living

11. Resources Accessible Gardening: Tips & Techniques for Seniors & the Disabled. Joann Woy. 1997, Stackpole Press Enabled Gardening: An Introduction (info provided by Angela Cingale, Master Gardener). Enabling Garden: Creating Barrier-Free Gardens. Gene Rothert, HTR. 1994, Taylor Trade Publishing Healing Landscapes: www.healinglandscapes.orgwww.healinglandscapes.org NCState.edu – Horticulture Department. How to Organize a Community Allotment Garden. http://cals.ncsu.edu/hort_sci/extension/documents/ag-727.pdfhttp://cals.ncsu.edu/hort_sci/extension/documents/ag-727.pdf UNC.edu http://rehabdesign.web.unc.edu/?projects=accessible-garden-bed-and- adjustable-hanging-baskethttp://rehabdesign.web.unc.edu/?projects=accessible-garden-bed-and- adjustable-hanging-basket Sensory Gardens. www.ahta.org (American Horticultural Therapy Organization).www.ahta.org The garden as a healer. Mark Epstein. The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce: http://www.djc.com/special/landscape98/10037844.htm. March 31, 1998. http://www.djc.com/special/landscape98/10037844.htm Van Mullekom, Kathy. Scout gives Children’s Hospital a therapy garden. Dailypress.com, July 30, 2011. Virginia Cooperative Extension: www.ext.vt.eduwww.ext.vt.edu Special thanks to Angela Cingale & Pat Crowe for their time and assistance