This is an incredibly bittersweet project that my husband and I undertook purely due to the circumstances. My Dad suffers from Dementia. Due to his condition, he had to move from an absolutely stunning home and garden (he was a Gardener by trade) to a house with a fairly bland backyard. The move itself was pretty stressful for him but not as stressful as it was to watch him stare out over just the lawn and not much more than that. Something had to be done for the sake of his health and well-being!
Before Photos
It mightn't seem like it, but this backyard with it's sloping lawn was actually the PERFECT layout to create a beautiful space because we could achieve a lot of the things that's important to Dad. So let me take you on a mini journey of Dad's beloved garden transformation and all the things I learned along the way.
Involve the person who the garden is being built for.
When designing a garden for someone with cognitive impairment we needed to look into the future as difficult as it was / is. The biggest thing was to ensure Dad was a part of the process and to run by our ideas through him first before we went ahead with it. I felt like this really empowered him and he started to show signs of excitement that he'll soon have a garden to cherish.
Consider how easy it is to move around the garden and navigate.
At the moment, Dad is pretty good on his feet, but in time that mightn't be the case so we opted to create a garden with no stairs and instead designed a garden with three different levels with a gentle sloped pathway. The largest of the levels was divided by a drystone sandstone wall which looks pretty incredible - a feature in itself! The pathway itself is a loop which means that no matter which direction Dad enters the garden, he'll always arrive at the same place. This is especially important for someone with Dementia.
Ensure the garden provides sensory elements but keep it simple.
The garden path was created with road base to add that little bit of crunch underfoot. We planted a variety of different textured plants for Dad to touch that not only would attract wildlife but were also familiar to Dad - particularly the plants that he had planted himself in this previous home. Familiar plants act as talking points.
Other features included a beautiful solar-powered water feature, a bird bath made out of a tree stump that was uncovered during excavation, and a well-crafted windmill sculpture from Wentworth Falls Pots which adds a lot of interest during the more windy days.
And since there was not one single tree in the backyard (so very little shade to enjoy when it gets warmer) we added a gorgeous Eucalyptus Saligna that is already about 4 meters tall (they're fairly rapid growers).
Provide some seating areas
At the back of the garden, we created a little 'zen' area with sandstone crazy paving and the same drystone sandstone wall. We transplanted a number of tree ferns to create a feeling of enclosure and safety. The other seating area overlooks the entire garden with the wrap around bamboo bench which offers another beautiful spot to contemplate nature and watch the birds.
Involve the community
This was the most humbling part of the whole project. As morbid as this seems, I'm not sure how long Dad has to fully enjoy the garden so we wanted to plant more advanced plants to make the garden feel established. Since mature plants are hard to come by (especially the traditional Blue Mountains varieties - Azaleas, Camellias, Magnolias) or can be incredibly costly, I put out a post through a local Facebook group asking if anyone had any to offer. The response I got was overwhelming. We truly do live in an incredibly generous community!
As a result, we were able to plant many well-known varieties of plants that were at least 5 years old in Dad's garden which instantly made it feel established. The amount of care and generosity given to my Dad is so heart warming that of all the things that Dad reflects on, he is constantly saying how grateful he is for the community's support. You could say that this garden has definitely been created with love.
These photos were taken toward the end of Autumn and as you know, we've had a terrible time with the rain. With all things considered, I feel this garden has been transformed into something Dad will continue to love. We deliberately pulled back on the number of plants as it's important to allow for the existing plants to grow freely without being confined and we also wanted to encourage Dad to continue visiting nurseries to add more plants to his new garden which has always been something he's enjoyed.
I know we will all cherish the garden as a family and continue to reflect on how it all came together and the people that were involved. It really is therapy for all of us.
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Would you too like your very own garden sanctuary?
If you'd love for us to provide you with some ideas as to how to create your very own sanctuary with you at the forefront of the design and construction, then please don't hesitate to contact us. We would be more than thrilled to help you transform your space into something you can truly feel good in.
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