Our rebuilt memory care courtyard garden
The memory care courtyard at Willowmere reopened in July after a three-month rebuild, with raised beds at seated height, a continuous looping path with no dead ends, shaded benches every forty steps and a wooden arbour for music on summer mornings. Residents can walk and garden freely inside the enclosed courtyard while staff are always close by.
Designed with residents, not just for them
Marisol Vega and the memory care team spent last winter watching how residents used the old courtyard: where they paused, where they turned back, which corners went unused. Families joined two planning evenings, and residents tested bed heights with folding tables before a single board was cut.
Warm brick, no steps, gentle curves and landmarks at every turn.
Chair-height beds for seated gardeners, waist-height beds for those who stand.
A wooden arbour, two young maples and benches with arms.
Scented and familiar plants chosen with residents and families.
The planting list leans on what residents remember: tomatoes, mint, rosemary, zinnias and old roses. Several residents have taken charge of their own bed, and the herb harvest goes to the memory care kitchen twice a week.
A typical garden morning
Doors open; staff set out watering cans and hats.
Garden group tends the beds and picks herbs.
Music under the arbour, weather allowing.
A slow loop of the path with a caregiver.
Dad farmed for fifty years. Watching him check the tomatoes every morning, I saw the man I grew up with.