For Gardeners: Gardening for mental health

You might ask, what does gardening have to do with your mind? New research in this area shows that not only is gardening healthy physically, but it may also improve cognition.

Last year I wrote about the health benefits of spending time in the garden and nature. Today’s article takes the concept a step further to show how gardening can help those who are dealing with memory loss or dementia.

My hope is you will be inspired to share gardening with the people in your life who are dealing with memory loss. Grow something new that will bring them joy. Learn about their favorite plants and how to grow them here in the Pacific Northwest.

For me, gardening is a pleasant physical, mental and leisure activity. Even just digging in the dirt is known to have real health benefits. The fresh air, watching birds and appreciating natural beauty are good for all of us, especially as we age, but growing research suggests that gardening may also reduce the risk of dementia.

According to the National Institutes of Health website, gardening supports psychophysiological improvements in people with dementia. It improves their depression and mood and reduces agitation. It also reduces stress, lowers the need for medications and increases their ability to engage. It even helps cut down on falls in people with dementia.

I’d like you to meet some of the people in my life who have suffered from dementia to see how plants and gardening have impacted them:

Helen

Helen, my mother-in-law wasn’t a big gardener, but she was sentimental about her plants. She had bearded iris that her mother had grown and passed on to her. She had a special fondness for roses and lived in an area that had a lot of deer that loved to eat them. However, that did not stop her from growing them!

The deer would jump the fence and munch on her row of roses. Sometimes she covered the plants with wire. She bought us a favorite rose for a wedding present called Fragrant Cloud — a beautiful hybrid tea rose with a lovely scent (pictured below). Smelling this rose when she visited triggered fond memories for her and brought her joy.

Helen was smitten by one of my shrub roses named The Fairy (both pink and white varieties.) Her mother’s name was Fairy, so when she heard the name, she fell instantly in love with it. I bought her one for Mother’s Day and she took special care of it well into her dementia.

This medium-sized rose with clusters of tiny flowers brought her such joy. She planted it close to her house so she could monitor the deer and watch it grow.

There is a rose nursery in Snohomish called the Antique Rose farm that carries both of these roses. Swanson’s Nursery has good information on their blog about how to grow roses in our region.

Ken

My brother Ken loved spending time outdoors. Our Depression-era father taught us to forage for wild mushrooms and berries and to hunt and fish. Ken was an avid boater who could harvest all kinds of edibles from the sea.

When I was talking with his family about a favorite plant or tree, they told me he really wanted a palm tree. His family decided to buy him one for Father’s Day and it is happily growing in their yard in LaConner. He enjoyed watching it grow near their driveway, visible from a window where he could see it.

Perhaps it reminded him of his many travels around the world where palms grow.

The best palm that does well in the Seattle area is the Chinese Windmill Palm (Trachycarpus fortunei). It’s hardy, fast growing and can handle our cold, wet climate.

Terry

My brother-in-law Terry has had dementia for several years. He grew up on a farm in Iowa and especially liked growing corn. He was proud of his large garden on Camano Island, and one time his garden was so productive they had a freezer full of home-grown sweet corn.

He also liked to mow the lawn and care for his 4 acres. One year we bought him a sweatshirt for his birthday that said “The Lawn Ranger!” He still has a good sense of humor and loves his corn.

There are lots of different varieties of corn that will grow well in full sun in our area. Choose an early maturing variety that will mature in 85 days or less as we have a short growing season here. The ideal time to plant outdoors is early to mid-April. Urban Farms recommends a yellow variety called “Bodacious” that they buy from Territorial Seed Company. I found several good growing tips on their website.

Mary

My dear friend, whom I will call Mary, is my age and the first of any close friends to have dementia. Our birthdays are just a few days apart. She is kind and smart and enjoys fresh flowers from the garden, especially hydrangeas. She and her husband always have several vases of fresh-cut flowers around the house just for the joy of it; they cheer her, and she appreciates compliments on her arrangements. Mop-head hydrangeas are her favorites.

Another favorite is the Eclipse hydrangea, whose leaf color is just as stunning as the flower. There is so much green in the Pacific Northwest that I like to offset with some blues, purples and chartreuse foliage.

Hydrangeas do well in our climate and need regular watering. A good source for hydrangea care can be found on the Swanson’s Nursery blog.

Linda

The last person I am writing about is my second mother-in-law, Linda. Linda may have a type of dementia that is related to a severe fall where she had some head trauma. She is quite happy, and when she told me about her favorite flower, tulips, we had fun laughing about all the tulip songs, which she proceeded to sing for me. There are a few!

She loves bulbs particularly because they are beautiful and easy to grow. She has tucked bulbs in between cement blocks, and she commented how she likes them peeking out of the vegetable garden in the spring. Now is a good time to plant tulips from our many local growers in Puyallup and the Skagit Valley.

If you haven’t visited a daffodil or tulip field in full bloom, I highly recommend you do. I was lucky to have grown up in Mount Vernon and worked in the fields as a kid. My dad had a small plane, and I loved flying over the valley in the springtime. It looked like a colorful patchwork quilt.

In Lynnwood there is a senior facility called GenCare Lifestyle Scriber Gardens that emphasizes gardening for their residents. The Boeing Company through their “Acts of Kindness” program put in new landscaping and installed raised planter boxes around the community and near the kitchen.

The home has three levels of care — peak memory, assisted living and independent living

According to Jacob Hanson, their director of vitality, the residents visit the gardens daily. It gives them a sense of purpose, a green space to enjoy and a safe walking environment.

The residents take care of watering the raised beds. They grow and harvest produce, flowers and herbs to share with others, and they have started a garden club. The property also has several beautiful places where residents can sit to enjoy the outdoors. They would welcome speakers and volunteers from local garden clubs or the community to help with gardening activities.

If you are interested in learning more about gardening with dementia there are several websites available. Australia funds several gardening programs with older people and those with dementia, taking a very progressive approach to the elder community.

There are many kinds of dementia, and the disease presents differently in different people. My first career out of college was as a social worker in an adult care facility called Foss Home in Seattle.

I learned that people with dementia still have many things they enjoy, whether it is listening to music or sharing memories of the flowers in their grandmother’s garden; they appreciate the mental stimulation. I am encouraged by this new area of research.

Now I am going out to plant my bulbs before it either rains or gets too dark. What better way to create new memories! One day it will be us remembering our kids in the tulip fields or singing tulip songs with a friend!

Val Taylor had her first garden when she was 11 years old. She grew up in the Skagit Valley and spent a lot of time working with fruits, vegetables and bulbs on local farms. After college, career and small kids, she attended the Master Gardening program in Seattle and volunteered for several years. She now belongs to five different Northwest gardening organizations. She is passionate about gardening and enjoys sharing.