Plant Power! – Promoting Client Wellbeing with Indoor Gardening
There’s something really satisfying about watching plants thrive – and spring is the perfect time for clients to get their hands dirty …with some home gardening! Even the least green-fingered among us gets a little joy from seeing new shoots unfurling, or a flower blooming. Furthermore, many elderly people will have had gardens in younger life, or don’t have the mobility to enjoy their existing gardens. Bringing some needy greenery to them can host a whole bunch of benefits; here are just a few …
Home gardening improves flexibility and mobility
Anything that encourages a person to move around is a good thing! And, for those who need to move around more, knowing that their plants ‘need them’ can be a powerful motivator to maintain their own wellbeing 🔗. Home gardening can be a mini-workout for the whole body, too; pruning, weeding, and cutting can help to limber up stiff finger joints and unwilling wrists, and even turning plant pots around on a windowsill can help improve flexibility in the arm and stomach muscles. Every little helps!
Tending to plants promotes wellbeing
Studies show that indoor plants provide physical and mental health benefits, including lifting mood, reducing loneliness, lowering stress and anxiety, and increasing physical activity. Also – particularly for those with dementia, there is a strong sensory element to gardening; tending to plants and flowers can trigger good memories, remembering the flowers, their smell, and fond thoughts of family and friends.
It can be the start of a new hobby!
Even if your clients have not enjoyed gardening in the past, it’s a quiet, simple and satisfying activity which can be very moreish. Helping them to gain other interests and activities is important for mental and physical wellbeing, and this is particularly the case for those whose interests and hobbies have been limited by ill health or restricted mobility. Before long, one plant can become two; and a little know-how can instigate a whole range of activities, from cultivating new plants from seed, or propagating from cuttings.
The best plants are not necessarily ‘the best plants’:)
We all love to ‘root’ for the underdog – and garden centres, as well as supermarkets, often reduce those poor little wilting plants that are left because they don’t ‘appeal’ to customers. But these are the ones you want! As well as being cheap – often reduced to pennies, plants that need some extra care and attention can really pull at the heartstrings (in a good way:) …
Alternatively, if you’re green-fingered yourself, you could bring some cuttings in from their garden, if they have one. That way, your clients can have a connection to their garden which is manageable for them.
So why not make an occasion of starting a new green-fingered hobby with your clients. Have a little joint mosey down at your local supermarket – and rescue a plant today!
