Dec

Liz’s Story

2024 Year End

Liz McClear, Director of Recreation, Dellwood Gardens Assisted Living and Memory Care

Working with Urban Roots on our Garden Club has been a pleasure and an education for me. This collaboration has sparked my inspiration to grow the Horticulture Therapy here at Dellwood Gardens. My first year, 2022, I met Jaclyne and her knowledge about our perennials, trees and bushes was a revelation! She introduced me to Juneberries, showed me the effect of trimming our currents at the wrong time and helped me feel comfortable trying new things in our garden. Jaclyne suggested that we make a fresh salsa with radishes for residents to taste during our weekly meeting. Our Wednesday morning sessions each week provided fresh air, sunshine, things to smell, taste, touch and see. This stimulation was so healthy and easy to customize for each resident’s comfort level. Residents knew Jaclyne by name and looked forward to her biweekly visits. In August of 2022, she offered to bring a Farmer’s Market day to Dellwood and residents were delighted to peruse fresh tomatoes, peppers, ground cherries, herbs and more.

Residents knew Jaclyne by name and looked forward to her biweekly visits.

The next season, Skyler took over and he brought the same reliability, kindness and wealth of knowledge. He was able to connect with some of our male group members in a different way. He encouraged me to take more leadership in planning the layout of our gardens. He invited us to come visit the GROW-IT Center Greenhouse, which is close enough that we could walk there in May 2023. During our sessions, residents could plant, weed and harvest flowers or vegetables to take to their rooms. People would often be inspired to share memories related to the smell of dill, how their mother always planted marigolds, or how they taught their children to prune tomatoes. This reminiscence is important psychological work of elderhood, processing experiences to make a cohesive narrative across one’s life span. This work can only happen when residents feel safe and connected to the friends and staff around them. Our Urban Roots staff have consistently supported this positive social and physical environment.

Skyler supported us using an empty bed facing 7^th street to grow flowers, including a few mammoth Pikes Peak Sunflowers! These grew to 13 feet tall and our residents are still talking about them! In the fall, we repeated the one-day Farmer’s Market on site and Skyler and Paloma supported my plan to keep the Garden Club meeting throughout the winter. I planned to propagate our houseplants and start seeds in the spring. We also put bulbs (tulips, hyacinth, daffodil and crocus) in our raised bed gardens for the first time.

It was such a joy to see those bulbs come up last spring! This also kindled early interest in our Garden Club and getting back out to those raised beds. This year, we had Paloma and hope she will be our Urban Roots gardener going forward. She built on the success laid by Jaclyne and Skyler and was resourceful, helping us resolve our spider mite problem using only a hydrogen peroxide solution. She was warm and reliable, learning each resident’s name and greeting them with a smile. We made another trip to the Greenhouse, and I told her all about the Friend’s School Plant Sale. Together, we planned the layout and used some of the early seeds we started in March. She suggested herbs, offered extra plants and hosted us at the greenhouse again. Our residents loved picking cherry tomatoes, kohlrabi, beans and basil.

In late August, we had another Farmer’s Market and enjoyed a long warm season. We planned to meet until the end of September, but we kept going another 4 weeks! Residents helped clean out one of our raised beds and Paloma did the other with a student once the weather got too cold. She came AGAIN in November to plant garlic bulbs and flower bulbs, covering the beds with straw to retain moisture. She has even offered to visit during the winter when we have a special speaker come to talk about succulents!

Overall, this partnership has been of great benefit to Dellwood residents. I believe that our grounds staff and the excellent guidance of our Urban Roots farmers positions Dellwood to provide a unique Assisted Living experience in the Metro Area. I will work to keep our communication strong so that this partnership can blossom and keep improving quality of life for our elders.