August 26 Column: The Enabling Garden

I was in Chicago last week for a conference hosted by the Association for Garden Communicators. Chicago is an amazing place with so many green spaces and gardens to enjoy. One of the gardens we visited is the Chicago Botanic Garden. For my column today, I decided to write about their Buehler Enabling Garden because there were so many usable ideas to share with you. Here’s a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Enabling Garden offers ideas for accessible gardening.

So what is an enabling garden anyway? Well, it’s a garden that is designed for individuals with either physical or sensory challenges so they can enjoy being in, and working in, the space. The Buehler Enabling Garden was a perfect example of just that.

It suggested the use of colors, textures and tactile cues to help folks who had limited or no vision, and ways to make gardening easier for those who could use some extra physical assistance. I hope you will find this information useful, particularly if you or a family member or friend are looking for ways to continue gardening.

Here are some photos from the garden. Remember that this week’s video is below them.

The above photo shows the waterfall and a vertical garden on the left.

In the photo above, you can see some of the hanging baskets on pulleys that I mentioned in my column.

The above photo (you’ll probably need to click on it for a larger view) shows a metal grid that visually-challenged gardeners can use to count the squares in order to locate specific plants. Pretty ingenious.

This week’s “Everyone Can Grow A Garden” video is part two of my Q&A video. It’s a little shorter than last week’s part one video and I’m hoping it contains helpful answers to questions that you just might have!