Therapeutic gardens in residential care facilities

Despite a desire to ‘age in place’ the number of older adults accommodated in aged care facilities in Australia is rapidly increasing (from 27,400 to 147,700 in the last two decades; ABS, 2003). The residents of aged care facilities have considerable recreational hours available. Some viewed their ‘forced’ leisure activities as having little value to them (Hill & Relf, 1982). Horticulture therapy activities increased participant engagement (Powell et al., 1979), and provided important therapeutic benefits such as visual, olfactory, and auditory stimulation (Kwack, Relf, & Rudolph, 2004). The benefits of therapeutic gardens are numerous and include opportunities for exercise, social exchange, intellectual stimulation, emotion regulation, and reminiscence