Gardening Has Invigorating Rewards for Elderly

Just because you are no longer in your salad days is no reason to give up gardening.

In fact, insists 65-year-old Florence Everts, a Washington landscape designer who has designed gardens around the world, gardening is “probably the most therapeutic, rejuvenating and invigorating” activity senior citizens can engage in.

Everts, a transplanted Australian and the wife of a retired U.S. foreign service officer, has designed gardens at American embassies in Pakistan and China. She now landscapes in Washington, where she is a partner in the firm Donnelly, Everts & Associates.

She is quick to offer gardening tips, especially for seniors. For example, she notes that although bending over can be good exercise, some senior backs stiffen quite quickly. One suggestion: Use raised flower beds. You won’t have to bend over quite so far.

And there is no rule in gardening that prevents you from bringing along a stool to sit on.

In fact, Smith & Hawken, a Mill Valley company, offers a variety of tools for seniors. They include two-foot-long forks or trowels, which weigh only a pound each and cost $12.50 apiece, or a $39 gardening stool to either sit or kneel on. (A canvas cover is an extra $14. For a catalogue, write: 25 Corte Madera Ave., Mill Valley, Calif. 94941.)

Although gardening is a solitary endeavor, it’s a great way to meet people and close the generation gap, Everts contends.

She recommends that avid gardeners consider joining plant societies. Almost every large city has clubs devoted especially to one type of flower, such as the camellia, for example.

“You can meet experts, but it is also an opportunity to meet others,” Everts says. “There is a great mix of generations. You get horticulture students and people who are just interested in gardens.”

Everts says that the societies and garden clubs often run tours to private or public gardens; that is not only a good way to socialize, but it’s also “healthy because there is a lot of walking.”

Another endeavor for the senior gardener is volunteer service for cities that need assistance in keeping their parks in good condition. Everts suggested contacting local officials to find out how you can help.

One of Everts’ own “local” tasks was to design the gardens of the ambassador’s residence in Islamabad, Pakistan. She directed a crowd of gardeners, laborers and children in hauling in 80,000 cubic feet of soil. Her army of helpers planted 1,000 flowering shrubs, 150 shade trees and 70 flowering trees.

So, if you are complaining about planting a pear tree, think of Everts and dig in.

Horticultural experts offer these tips for older gardeners:

Plant perennial flowers. Since they come up annually, you cut down on the need to dig and plant each year.

Vegetables aren’t so easy because there aren’t that many perennials. Asparagus is one of the few. Putting in vegetable plants, rather than sowing seed and having to thin out the tiny shoots, can save some bending. A number of vegetables can be purchased as plants, including lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage and peppers.

Use a thick mulch to keep the weeds down and the moisture in. This means less weeding.

For expansive lawns, use ground cover such as ivy, which takes much less maintenance than grass. Before you rip up your lawn, you should ask an expert just what kind of ground cover will grow well at your place, given the amount of moisture and sunlight your lawn gets.

Joe Volz writes for Maturity News Service.