If your aging parent is lamenting the loss of her ability to putter around the garden, pruning her rose bushes or harvesting her tomatoes, you can help brighten up the gray days of winter by some indoor gardening options. Flowers and greenery can brighten up a home and a person’s spirits, especially if that person’s passion is gardening.
Try one or more of these activities to keep your aging parent’s hands (especially her green thumb) busy during the winter months, while she waits for the ability to head back outside and garden.
Grow an Herb Garden
For an herb garden, your parent just needs a windowsill with good light, some soil, seeds (or seedlings) and water. What kind of food does your parent enjoy eating? Look for herbs that she can then use in her cooking to encourage cooking with fresh ingredients. Or perhaps there is a fragrant herb (like rosemary) that your parent will enjoy growing as well as smelling for some good old-fashioned aromatherapy.
Create a Succulent Garden
For a small investment, you can help your parent purchase some small succulents to combine into a planter. Some people like to use unique planters like shoes or teacups. This is a great way to get creative with planting if that’s something your parent enjoys. The bonus to succulents is that they don’t need a lot of attention once they’re planted and growing. Their colors and unique shapes will add some extra flair wherever they are planted.
Cultivate Bonsai Trees
This may be a completely new hobby for your parent, but what a fun one it can be. Your parent can purchase a ready-made Bonsai tree (you or your home care provider can help your parent shop online or if a local nursery is open and safe to shop at, you can visit there). There are also options and instructions online to purchase nursery stock. The price will be less than purchasing a fully grown tree, and your parent will have more creative say in how the tree grows in size and shape. Whatever way your parent chooses to begin this hobby, what a unique plant to show off when visitors can stop by again.
Nurture Bulbs into Blooms
One of the easiest and most rewarding ways to add a little color and foliage to your parent’s home is to purchase some bulbs (such as amaryllis) to watch grow into beautiful flowers. Many stores sell them during the winter months, so the next time your home care provider brings your parent to the grocery store, have them check out the floral shop to see if there are some bulbs to purchase so that your parent can have some spring flowers to enjoy in just a few short months.
Up the Houseplant Game
Studies have shown that houseplants keep people happier and healthier. Whether your parent doesn’t have any houseplants or just one or two, it’s an inexpensive purchase to add a few more to brighten up her home. Choose houseplants that fit your parent’s ability to care for them or enlist your home care provider to help maintain the plants by watering and fertilizing regularly.
Whichever option you choose, your elderly parent is sure to enjoy watching something grow and thrive indoors while the world outside is gray and frozen.
If you or someone you know needs Senior Care in Hutchinson, MN, contact Adara Home Health Care. We provide quality and affordable home care services for many fragile or senior members in the communities we serve.
Call us at (888) 660-5772 for more information.
Resource: