Landscape Design
How to Design a Senior-Friendly Landscape That Everyone Can Enjoy
Read a design expert’s tips for creating an outdoor space that’s both attractive and practical for all ages
Limited mobility, vision and agility can play a big role in how much someone enjoys and uses an outdoor space, but a lot can be done to make a home landscape more hospitable to older adults. We spoke with Evette Moran, designer of the award-winning garden at the Mark Moran Vaucluse senior living facility in New South Wales, Australia, who shared her tips for creating a landscape that’s appealing, low-maintenance and safe for seniors and others.
Evette Moran tends to the garden she designed for the Mark Moran Vaucluse center in Australia.
Make It Easy to Move Through the Space
Make It Easy to Move Through the Space
- Include plenty of flat surfaces.
- Ensure that walkways are spacious and easy to navigate.
- Create zones in the garden for different types of plants, such as native species, vegetables and fruit trees. This makes the garden an interesting place to spend time in, and zones make it easy to move around.
Factor In Older Adults’ Specific Health Needs
- Vision impairment. It’s common for vision to deteriorate as we age; the results range from needing glasses to suffering a complete loss of vision. This is one of the most important things to factor in when planning for accessibility and activity in the garden.
- Body-temperature issues. The older we get, the quicker we can become dehydrated, which can also lead to heat exhaustion. Ensure easy access to water as well as to rest spots and shade.
Choose Low-Maintenance Plants
Make your senior-friendly garden as easy to care for as possible. Choose plants, trees and vegetables that are not fussy and that need a minimal amount of maintenance to grow. Avoid planting items that spread easily, need a lot of trimming or attract pests.
How to Design a Low-Maintenance Garden
Make your senior-friendly garden as easy to care for as possible. Choose plants, trees and vegetables that are not fussy and that need a minimal amount of maintenance to grow. Avoid planting items that spread easily, need a lot of trimming or attract pests.
How to Design a Low-Maintenance Garden
Some of my favorite plants include:
- Magnolias. These plants, shown here, are versatile, easy to care for and very disease-resistant. When you’re planting magnolias, it is important to improve the soil quality so that in summer, water can go straight to the plants’ roots.
- Banksias. These stunning plants are full of color and are easy to maintain. Flowers will bloom throughout the year with very little attention as long as the plants are placed in well-draining soil in full sunlight.
- Citrus trees. Being able to pick fruit from the garden can draw anyone out into the sunshine, and it gets seniors active and provides homegrown nutrients. Care for citrus trees is fairly minimal; it involves watering, mulching, fertilizing and occasionally pruning to rid the tree of dead wood and branches.
- Grevilleas. These beautiful plants do not get bothered by pests and are incredibly easy to maintain. Grevilleas also attract beautiful birds.
Plants to avoid:
- Bamboo. Planting bamboo may seem like a good idea due to its resilience and minimal care requirements, but it’s not ideal for a senior-friendly garden. It will spread rapidly throughout the garden and can be extremely hard to eradicate.
- Azaleas. These shrubs can create beautiful, vibrant flowers, but they are hard to maintain and require special care to survive.
- Belladonna. This plant is extremely toxic and should be kept away from any place where a person or pet may accidentally ingest it.
Other Elements You May Like to Include
- Vegetable garden. It is important for everyone, regardless of age, to maintain good health, which is why I find having a spot to grow produce essential to any garden. People love growing, picking and cooking their own fresh herbs and vegetables.
- Quiet spots. Include quiet places where visitors can think or read a book, adding to the garden’s appeal.
- Wildlife-friendly features. People of every age usually love wildlife. Adding features to your garden that will attract birds and butterflies is a great idea.
- Color. Plants with plenty of color lift the spirit and can inspire us to get moving. They’re also great for detracting attention from less-than-lovely features in a garden.
- Provide shade. It’s important to have shade for seniors in the garden, especially in summer. Their skin is more susceptible to sunburn, and they can more easily suffer from heatstroke.
- Include seating. It’s important to have several comfortable and stable seating options in the garden where those who tire more easily can rest.
- Raise the garden beds. Some older adults have physical restrictions that make bending difficult, so bring garden beds to an accessible level.
- Choose lightweight garden tools. Lightweight, easy-to-handle tools are less likely to slip out of hands and cause injury.
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