Disabled Gardening
Gardening Despite Difficulties
Soft Landscaping
Plants
When you're choosing plants for disabled gardening, there are a few ideas that will help a lot. Here's the quick notes:
- No thorns
- No irritation / poison
- Big blooms
- Scented flowers
- Easy Care
- Bright Colors
No Thorns
Thorny, scratchy plants can hurt tender skin. If your skin is easily bruised or scratched, don't plant things like roses, barberry, or creeping phlox.
TIP: Garden tools for children are lighter and may be easier to use.
No Irritation
Certain plants, while pretty, can irritate the skin. Juniper shrubs do just that. Whenever I've got to plant them or remove leaves from their base, I get itchy hands. Trumpet vine can do the same thing.
Big Blooms
Big blooms are great if your eyesight is bad. It only makes sense. Some of the best: Sunflowers, Coneflower, Hydrangea, Lilac, Azalea, and Peony. Lilac has the added benefit of a great smell. Which brings me to the next item...
Scented Flowers
Scent is something that's often forgotten in a garden. If you can't see well, get some great smelling flowers. My favorites: Lilac, Mock orange, and Russian Sage. Russian sage has to be rubbed to smell, but I love it anyway.
Easy Care
Why plant something that you might have problems keeping up with? Easy to grow plants will leave you more time for ... flower arranging or picking new seeds or containers. Expansion!
Try sedum (less watering), Johnny Jump Ups (Viola cornuta), or daylilies. Johnny Jump Ups love cool weather and need virtually no care. Love that!
Bright colors
Combine big blooms with bright colors (or big leaves with bright colors) and, again, you'll easily see lovely flowers. If you're in Zone 5 or warmer, consider Hibiscus. Huge blooms come in lovely deep reds, pinks, and whites.
So far, all of the plants I've suggested have been shrubs or perennials. Shrubs may be too big if you're going to try container gardening.
Instead, check out the annual list that I've got below:
- Geranium
- Petunias
- Celosia
- Begonia
- Zinnia
- Moss Roses
- Coleus
Love container gardening? My custom container garden designs will give you lots of ideas.
Finally, make sure that you don't overwhelm yourself with a huge planting area. Start smaller and build up. Gardening takes time.
Best of luck creating your garden. All the time you spend on planning and building will be worth it. Disabled gardening? Garden -- despite the difficulties!
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