Creating an Enabled Garden Bruce Dunn Joanna Sanford Jane Walling

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: NCState.edu – Horticulture Department. How to Organize a Community Allotment Garden. UNC.edu adjustable-hanging-baskethttp://rehabdesign.web.unc.edu/?projects=accessible-garden-bed-and- adjustable-hanging-basket Sensory Gardens. (American Horticultural Therapy Organization). The garden as a healer. Mark Epstein. The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce: March 31, Van Mullekom, Kathy. Scout gives Children’s Hospital a therapy garden. Dailypress.com, July 30, Virginia Cooperative Extension: Special thanks to Angela Cingale & Pat Crowe for their time and assistance