Dementia-Friendly Gardening

The San Antonio Botanical Garden is hosting a dementia-friendly gardening workshop on Wednesday, February 25, from 11 AM to 12:30 PM. It's held in the Children's Vegetable Garden at 555 Funston Place, and it's designed for people living with dementia and their caregivers to work in the garden together.

The workshop is called GROW, which stands for Gardening Rooted in Occupational Wellness. It was started by Christina Bittle as her capstone project while she was a doctor of occupational therapy student at UT Health San Antonio, and it runs in partnership with the university's 'Caring for the Caregiver' program. The idea is to immerse people living with dementia and their caregivers in nature, combining garden therapy, nature therapy, and respite care, with master gardeners on hand to help out. Participants get to take home a portion of the fresh produce they grow.

There's a nice bit of local history behind the setup, too. The garden's wheelchair-accessible raised beds were inspired by beds that Eric Goldsmith's son built at home after Eric's diagnosis of Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's disease. The Botanical Garden itself describes itself as a museum of plants, a living classroom, and a research and conservation facility, and it offers free admission every day.

The workshop is free, though registration is required. It runs from 11 AM to 12:30 PM on Wednesday, February 25, at the Children's Vegetable Garden, 555 Funston Place, San Antonio 78209.