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A Garden Mines Memories for Folks Who Are Losing Theirs

The Argus

RT and Vera Hawkins plant petunias, working together just as they have for the 63 years of their marriage.

She digs a hole and he carefully lifts the plant from the pot and hands it to her. They both bend to tuck the purple petunia into the soil, and then stand back to admire their work.

RT is spry, but his memory isn't what it used to be.

He lives in the secure Arbor Life memory care wing of Avamere at Hillsboro. She lives in the assisted living wing.

Gardening is something they can do together now that the facility's activity staff has planted the idea of a garden that residents can visit anytime.

With no budget for the project, Laura Hunter, Avamere's life enrichment director, and Lesa Weislogel, the memory care unit activity director, asked Karosh Pournaderi, owner of the nearby Garden Frog Nursery, if he might be interested in donating a few plants.

"We do this all the time," said Pournaderi, who often helps out projects - especially those involving children and the elderly - with gardens.

In fact, Pournaderi has plants in 16 different school gardens, as well as a Tigard food bank garden. "We grow our own plants in Banks," he added. "That way we can afford to give some away. It's nice to be part of the community."

A flowering cherry tree, thanks to Pournaderi, promises years of spring blooms and summer shade for the memory care garden visitors.

The garden, with its fragrances and textures, often prompts memories in minds that suffer from Alzheimer's disease or other forms of cognitive and dementia-related impairment.

"The senses are often the last to go," said Hunter, noting that for most memory-impaired people, their worlds become smaller and more restricted as their disease progresses.

The garden, she said, gives residents opportunities to go outside, get their hands dirty, water plants and take care of something. "It brings more life to their lives," she added....

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