St. Peter, Minn. ? One of the last things 97-year-old Gladys Randolph did earlier this month while saying farewell to independent living was take a long, lingering walk around her house in Le Sueur, Minn., where she pinched spent blooms from a few front-entry geraniums. Yet despite her new nursing home surroundings, my mother won’t have to give up gardening.

“You’re never too old to do anything that’s of interest to you,” said Nancy Haas, activity director at Grandview Good Samaritan Center, located on the agricultural edge of this southern Minnesota community where my mother now resides.

“You may have to make special adaptations so you can participate. That might mean giving advice to others, doing the digging yourself or simply admiring the flowers when they’re grown.”

An estimated 1.5 million people live in the nation’s 16,000-plus nursing homes, said Dr. Bill Thomas, a specialist in geriatrics and an AARP visiting scholar.

Thomas, from Sherburne, N.Y., has developed a concept called “the Eden Alternative” as a way to blend nature and medicine with nursing home care.

“I tell them to imagine they’re living in a garden,” he said. “That’s the figurative side of the approach. But I also believe people need to physically be around things that grow. And that’s the literal.”

Horticultural therapists are fond of saying you're never too old or frail to garden - provided you have the proper motivation and enabling tools. Victoria Rosendahl, from Warner, Va., has been able to overcome most of the limitations caused by two automobile accidents in large part because of such aids as this raised bed GardenRack, which was designed by her husband.

“When people open themselves up to caring for something else, it improves their health and general well-being,” Thomas said. “They’ve found a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to continue living. Gardening fills some of that need just as children and pets do. That’s a vital connection.”

Gardening has been playing a larger role in nursing home care over the past decade. It’s challenging, provides exercise, and serves up rewards both edible and visible.

“We blend gardening with their daily life,” Grandview’s Haas said. “It’s part of their schedule but it’s also part of what they do informally. We tell them: ‘You watered your garden at home. This is your home now so why not do the same thing here?”‘

Adaptive tools and ergonomic techniques make things easier for the dedicated cadres of disabled gardeners. They can work at wheelchair-accessible tabletop growing beds and use such things as long-handled bulb planters, pistol-grip-operated “reachers,” kneeler-style benches, wrist braces, golf carts and rider mowers.

Victoria Rosendahl, of Warner, Va., suffers chronic back and neck pain and stiffness resulting from two major car accidents. But thanks to some inventive tinkering by her husband, Matt, she hasn’t had to give up gardening.

She has overcome most of the limitations caused by her injuries largely because of devices like the GardenRack, the easy-to-build, no-bend, no-kneel bench her husband designed.

“I’m not to a point where I’m completely immobile, but this is the ultimate in raised bed gardening,” Rosendahl said. “It just makes things so much easier.”

The freestanding GardenRack is small enough for decks, balconies or rooftops. It also is portable and can be raised or lowered. Its two trays are deep enough for bulbs, and the platform is waist high, which prevents many foraging insects, like cutworms, from reaching the leafy plants. “It’s really good for people who are downsizing or those who want to grow their own organic vegetables,” Rosendahl said.

Other common-sense ways to ease gardening chores include:

¢ Build your raised beds narrow and small. Narrow eliminates hard-to-reach plants. Small means not needing as much potting soil.

¢ Wait to weed until after a rain. A good soaking loosens the soil. And mulch liberally to keep weeds from getting started.

¢ Gardening for the vision-impaired can be done with the help of aromatic markers. Choose flowers and herbs with bright colors and distinctive scents.

¢ Pathways should be wide enough for power chairs, wheelchairs or walkers. Add handrails, benches and pullouts so physically impaired gardeners can pause to comfortably enjoy the fruits of their labor.

¢ Grow vertically if you find it difficult to stoop. Choose vegetable varieties like pole beans and tomatoes, or plant morning glories, clematis and other flowering vines.