Photo by submitted
Bamboo muhly, a graceful, branching plant, is worth a space in anyone's garden.
Photo by submitted
Use varying bed heights and textures and shades of plants to give your garden an inviting diversity.
This planter makes a sort of grouped single speciment, a punctuation point for the garden that is easy to work with at this height.
Pretty — and pain-free
Naples Botanical Garden offers enabling ideas to suit every yard in its Buehler Enabling Garden
One of the new jewels of Naples Botanical Garden is the Buehler Family Foundation Enabling Garden. The term "enabling garden" may be new to many people but it refers to gardens that feature structures and tools that enable people to garden. One of the new jewels of Naples Botanical Garden is just such a place: the Buehler Family Foundation Enabling Garden.
Traditionally, enabling garden design and programs have been targeted at individuals and groups with special needs, but the Buehler Enabling Garden has a broader mandate that includes making gardening easier and more fun for everyone, regardless of physical ability. This design goal is very much in keeping with the concept of universal design — good accessible design — benefits all of us, regardless of physical ability.
Here are some of the key features of the Buehler Enabling Garden:
1. RAISED BEDS
Raised beds are planters at heights that are comfortable for people of different heights and mobility challenges. While raised beds were originally developed to make gardening accessible to gardeners using wheelchairs, they also make gardening easier for everyone by reducing the bending and crouching that is required to garden at ground level.
Raised beds also allow us to use shorter, lighter tools. The soil that we use in raised beds is also much lighter and easier to weed and cultivate than regular garden soil. Generally we don't walk in a raised garden so we can plant it more densely and as a result it is much more productive than a traditional garden at ground level.
As an added bonus, we aren't dealing with a big mess during the rainy season — no muddy boots in the foyer!
2. BED HEIGHTS
Some beds are at the same height as a chair seat, about 18 inches, with wide coping, or a sill, that is comfortable to sit on. These beds can be worked from both a standing and seated position and are best suited for those of us, myself included, who suffer from cranky knees and stiff backs. Even if you are in great shape you will enjoy gardening more with beds at this height.
We also have raised beds that have narrow edges which reduce the reach distance for gardeners in wheelchairs. These beds are built in a variety of heights from about 20 to 30 inches to accommodate plants of various heights and individuals of various abilities.
Taller, 36- to 40-inch, raised beds allow people to stand while gardening and they also elevate plants that can bring fragrance, color and texture closer to our noses, hands and eyes. These are also built with narrow walls to reduce the reach needed to work in the garden.
Many of the beds also have an indentation at the base. This is to allow gardeners to stand closer to the garden.
3. VERTICAL GARDENS
These gardens are becoming very popular as they provide a living wall of textures, fragrance and colors. Vertical gardens are wonderful to explore with your eyes closed — just let your sense of touch and smell lead you on a tour.
Our vertical garden is assembled from a product called Wooly Pockets. They are made in the U.S. from recycled materials and can be installed indoors or out at whatever height is desired. They are easy to plant and a great design for pretty much any gardener. We also sell Wooly Pockets in the garden store.
Hanging baskets can take your garden vertical as well. In the Buehler Enabling Garden we use them to create a backdrop in the craft pavilion. This shady location allows us to grow unusual begonias and ferns — plants that would wither in the Florida sun.
4. TOOLS
If you are still using the same trowel that you bought 20 years ago you may want to visit the tool section at your local garden center. Ergonomics has reached garden tool design: Handles are larger, softer and much easier to grip, especially for those of us who have arthritis. Tools are lighter and some have been radically redesigned to reduce the wear and tear on joints. Many tools are available with extended handles to reduce the need for bending and to extend our reach. Pruners are available that have ratchet action and take much less hand strength to operate.
All in all there are well over 100 garden tools from hose holders to leaf rakes that make gardening easier for all of us. The tool shed in the Buehler Enabling Garden has a good selection of these types of tools on display.
One of the most challenging garden activities for those of us with strength or mobility issues is watering. Almost every plant in the Buehler Enabling Garden is watered with drip irrigation. This system puts water right at the roots of the plants keeping the plants happy, your back happy and your water bills low!
We also use lightweight watering wands to extend our reach for hanging baskets and other plants that may need a little extra water.
5. PLANTS
The Buehler Enabling Garden, one of the only tropical or subtropical enabling gardens in the world, and the selection of plants that we can grow is amazing. Most plants in the Buehler Enabling Garden are sensory plants and/ or useful for horticultural therapy programming.
My personal favorite is bamboo muhly (Muhlenbergia dumosa) with its arching feathery stems – I can't go past it without touching it. The garden is full of fragrances from foliage and flowers. Essential oils on the leaves of herbs such as scented geraniums (Pelargonium spp.), basils (Ocimum spp.) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) are both fragrant in the garden and the backbone of crafts such as potpourri and flavored vinegars.
On a warm day the flowers of Vietnamese gardenia (Gardenia vietnamensis), can fill the garden with their fragrance, and their large, 3-inch white flowers are very striking. We try hard to keep at least one specimen of each plant labeled, but if you can't find a plant name, let a docent or staff member know and we will track it down for you.
We are really excited about the opportunity to provide horticultural therapy programming to special needs groups in our community, but we need help! If you are interested in volunteering in the Buehler Family Foundation Enabling Garden please contact Sally Richardson by calling 239-643-7275. We will have our first training for Buehler Family Foundation Enabling Garden Docents on Nov. 15. Lesley Fleming, a registered horticultural therapist from Tampa, will lead the training.
Brian Holley is executive director of the Naples Botanical Garden.
If you go
What: Naples Botanical Garden
Where: 4820 Bayshore Drive, Naples
When: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily
Admission: Adults, $12.95; children ages 4-14 - $7.95; members free
More information: 239-643-7275 or www.naplesgarden.org
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