container garden plants are great for limited mobility - herbs and vegetables and dwarf fruits [like blueberries and strawberries]in pots would be nice because the residents could enjoy the fruits of their labor! - they can plant containers from wheelchairs - they can plant containers from any height - hope this helps

Please make sure none of the plants are poisonous as residents might be tempted to pick and taste. Edible plants and fragrant plants are nice. Pansies like to be picked and are edible. Nasturtiums are colorful and edible. Petunias are colorful and fragrant. Dill is a nice accent plant with flowers. Just these 4 would make a nice colorful display.

I volunteered for several years in a nursing home and these are the types of things that seemed to work well. We did a container of herbs ( parsley, oregano, dill, sage, basil ). We also had a large container of tomato plants ( dwarf varieties ). I brought in some alpine strawberry plants and planted them along the edge of a gardening table and the seniors really enjoyed searching for and eating the small berries.

They really enjoyed scented plants: scented geraniums, sweet peas, we even planted the most fragrant rose bushes we could find along the pathway in the enclosed garden. The staff would cut some of the blooms to bring indoors for those to enjoy who were not able to get out.

We also planted sunflowers ( the ones that form sunflower seeds for the birds). When they were ready we would cut them and bring them in to dry and in the fall and winter would hang them outside for the birds. The seniors really enjoyed watching their antics.

Hope this gives you some ideas :-)

Sages, thymes, and lavenders.

Sages have nice leaves, and when they do bloom they get beautiful spikes of snapdragon type flowers that vary in colour...very pretty! Pretty as a backdrop for other things as well. We prune our sage back hard (read hack at it with clippers) in fall, and again after flowering for a repeat show of new foliage and a few spikes of blooms.

Thymes smell nice, and look pretty when they bloom. I have a variegated thyme that slowly creeps out, and in the spring gets positively pink with blooms! And it smells SOOO nice. I find thymes tend to keep more weeds at bay as well because they mat so thickly. They can be pruned and shaped or allowed to ramble on their own.

Lavender has nice foliage, and is a low grower. Smells WONDERFUL when the breeze is blowing or as you brush by. I have one near the entrance of my house, so it gets it's edges trampled yet it doesn't seem to mind. And when it blooms.....wow! It literally stops traffic. The kids love to watch the bumble bees and "hover bees" tumble around on it (I try not to think about it LOL). Once it is done blooming, a quick clip to remove the stalks, and it will send up a few repeaters here and there throughout the season. Ocassionally I prune mine hard back, to renew the bottom growth. This is another one that can be trained to "hedge" or just grow in it's own natural clump shape.

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Hi-Personally I would suggest donations of perennials be accepted as they will keep on giving and choose to do the plantings as any welldone perennial garden would be done with a variety of plant material with staggering of bloom times, textures, heights and etc. The hardier the plant-the longer bloom time-those are things I would ask for.

Spring; bulbs, creeping phlox, viburnums, lilacs, dianthus, coral bells, and etc.
Summer: garden phlox, shasta daisies, coneflowers, yarrow,daylilies, balloon flowers
Fall: Mums, Russian sage, ornamental grasses, rudbeckia, asters

If there are trellises-ornamental hops are nice, for fall-sweet autumn clematis is hardy

Just my thoughts on things-annual herbs and such are nice and could be used to fill in but this will be mainatined by volunteers I take it? Perennials would be much easier to maintain and in the long run at less expense.

I agree with all these suggestions. Also, remember the perennials and keep the cost down. Volunteers have a way of moving on, and funds can be inconsistent.

I would also suggest staying away from plants that require alot of spraying or trimming. Hardy, disease resistant strains are the best way to go.

In addition to raised beds, for those who must enjoy the plants from a wheelchair, walker, or even a mobile hospital bed, keep some interest up high enough, with taller plants, and trellised vines, or topiaries (if you have somebody who can maintain them. It's less pleasurable for weak eyes to make out the detail of some of the dimunitive flowers than the details of, let's say, a large sunflower blossom.

Another idea would be to include plants that dry nicely, for those who might like a stem or two of something like money plant, etc. It helps bring the cheer of plants indoors when the weather is bleak, especially for those whose families are far away, and don't get many visits or little gifts.

jeribelle

You didn't say if the seniors are going to maintain the plants or just enjoy them, or what kind of beds the plants will be in.

All the suggestions above are good advice. I would add that seniors might enjoy a cutting garden arrayed on both sides of a paved wheelchair path, where they could harvest spring to fall flowers for brightening the indoors.

This might include some workhorse standbys like Rudbekia 'Goldsturm', Aster 'frikarti' and Dahlias, which give great cutting flowers even if they aren't fragrant. Also, 'Madame Butterfly' snapdragons have a knock your socks off fragrance of raspberries. They are nose height, just right for sniffing.

Plant long season bright perennials in three to five foot drifts so they give visual impact for those seniors whose eyesight has dimmed.

I ended up donating specific perennials they wanted. They must've researched it somewhat as nothing they wanted in that arena was invasive. Although the person heading up the project wasn't plant knowledgeable, I thought she did a good job asking questions. I gave them coreopsis because they asked. I also gave them many herbs. Some were annuals (they smell good!) and some where perennials, but NO MINTS. They did ask for snaps and I thought it was not the best idea (aren't they borderline poisonous and not warm weather annuals), I still gave them to them. I made sure they were really bright. They liked that.

Students from the local university are going to maintain the area and I was worried about that too, but they have it covered. It ended up the local co-op donated shrubs, so they got everything they needed and wanted.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, they got incorporated and it widened my view; I appreciate you!

This is good advise for anyone doing handicapped gardening, Like me.