Dementia-friendly garden

One of the most talked-about gardens at Bloom, the Dementia-Friendly Garden, is to have a second lease of life as it relocates to a park south of Dublin.

The garden, designed by architect Tom Grey, was an initiative of the Dementia: Understand Together campaign, led by the HSE in partnership with the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. It showcased the ways you can make a garden more welcoming and enjoyable for those suffering from dementia, and won a silver medal at the Phoenix Park show.

Just before the show, the garden’s sponsors invited publicly-funded organisations and institutions to apply to have the garden relocated into their own outdoor space. The winner was the award-winning Arklow Duck Pond, Nature Walk and Leisure Area, a boating lake and recreational area in Co. Wicklow. 

“Hopefully it will inspire people to think about the practical things they can do to create understanding and inclusive communities where people with dementia are supported and connected,” said Dr Suzanne Timmons, of the HSE’s National Dementia Office.

The garden featured key elements to include in a garden to tackle difficulties such as short-term memory loss, orientation problems, and visual perception.

Many are easily adapted to any garden used regularly by those with dementia:

• A spiral path which doesn’t have dead ends – which can be confusing to dementia sufferers
• Memory wall with hanging space for photos and vertical planting
• Water feature to provide a focal point and a multisensory experience
• Plants to trigger memories such as daisies, lupins, lavender and camomile
• Scented flowers, flowing water and birdsong to stimulate the senses
• Raised planters to give easy access to gardening activities

For more help in designing gardens for those with dementia and other mental or physical health problems, just pop into the garden centre here in Co. Limerick and we’ll be happy to help.