Having a garden in an aged care facility is beneficial in so many ways.
05/02/2026
Gardens offer a multitude of proven benefits that contribute significantly to the physical and mental well-being of aged care residents.
Engaging with nature through gardening activities can:
Enhance physical health: Gardening involves tasks like planting, weeding, and watering, which require gentle movement and improve mobility, flexibility, and strength in residents. Studies have shown that these activities can even help reduce the risk of chronic diseases like osteoporosis, often prevalent in older adults.
Boost mood and cognitive function: Spending time outdoors in gardens allows residents to soak up essential vitamin D, which is crucial for overall well-being and can help improve mood and cognitive function. Engaging with nature has also been linked to reduced anxiety and depression in older adults.
Promote social interaction and cognitive stimulation: Gardens provide a natural space for residents to connect with each other, staff, and visitors, fostering a sense of community and combating feelings of isolation and loneliness. Additionally, gardening activities can stimulate memory, focus, and problem-solving skills, particularly beneficial for residents with dementia.
Creative Ageing is an essential part of our approach to care at residential aged care operator Whiddon because of the strong connections between the arts and good health, and the lifelong benefits that creative therapies and programs offer.
“We use humour, art, music, song and dance, cooking, storytelling and pet therapy to bring enjoyment and improve the health and wellbeing of our clients and residents in aged care,” Whiddon said on its website.
“Our Creative Ageing programs include a wide range of activities and therapies. Some are aimed at everyone’s enjoyment – gardening programs, arts and crafts, singing and choirs, cooking clubs, games, music, hen keeping and animal therapy – and others are structured therapy programs to support people living with dementia.”
“As part of our wellbeing offering, we get to see the wonderful friendships formed by residents living in aged care, as they find something they enjoy and use that as a tool to develop friendships with others.”
Always check what happens in the residential aged care home before your loved one or ones sign the paperwork.
A residential care home may not be where you or your loved ones ever expected to call home, but the new environment often greatly improves wellbeing - and not only by providing round-the-clock care.
Studies have shown that engagement in leisure activities around the everyday care routine is an important indicator of quality of life in residential aged care.
