LIBERTY — A project deemed the culmination of three years of planning and hard work was recognized Friday afternoon as Shepherd of the Valley Liberty’s representatives cut a ribbon to mark the ceremonial opening of its Memory Garden.
The 100-foot by 70-foot fenced-off area aimed at supporting seniors living with Alzheimer’s and dementia features several raised planter boxes, walking paths and chimes positioned at various points along it. There’s also a gazebo and triple-tiered water fountain.
Jacob Sebest, director of donor engagement for Shepherd’s Foundation, a group aimed at raising funds to support its programs and services in communities across the Mahoning Valley, explained that their representatives were seeking new ways to bring comfort and ease to its residents.
“We did a lot of research and found sensory gardens are a great way to do it; we put together a project with different architects, different builders and even gardeners to find the best plants, the best noises, the wind chimes,” Sebest said. “Every little detail was looked into to see how it can aid in the sensory experience to calm down any residents who would be dealing with side effects and symptoms of memory loss.”
Sebest said they made use of the area’s windiness by putting together different wind chimes with different tones at varying parts of the garden, and plants that would appeal to residents’ senses.
“All of the flowers — like the herbs and everything — they can taste them, or we have different raised beds where they can feel them and they may smell,” he said. “We have popcorn plants, so if the residents want to touch them, they can smell like popcorn; we have lamb’s ear if they want to feel something soft.”
Sebest said the garden’s variety will give way to “all sorts of” different projects from which caregivers will be able to build activities.
May Love, director of assisted living and memory care, was credited alongside activity director Kim Osborn for their help in choosing plants. Love said the plants were a huge part of the garden because of the memories they can jog.
“The people who can remember their own gardens, their own cooking, that stimulates others, the smell of the herbs, stimulates their cooking — things like that at home,” Love said.
Love said herbs like lavender were able to be used for memory projects, because everyone remembers the sachets they might have had in their dressers.
Love said the garden’s impact goes beyond the living facility’s memory care unit.
“The assisted living enjoys it; the independent living enjoys it, because due to the age of a lot of our residents, they already have some of the beginning parts (of memory loss),” she said. “And this also stimulates their memories.”
Sebast said they’ve been approached by residents to see if they can do their own planting, which he said they’re open to — as long as the plants have a sensory focus in mind. They have gardens available at other facilities where residents have full control, however.
“This one was more thought out and purposeful,” he said.
Sebast said the project cost more than officials initially expected, at $200,000, which was obtained through multiple fundraising events.
The foundation is seeking additional funds for the area’s upkeep, which they plan to raise via sales of naming rights of the garden’s parts, ranging from windchimes to the garden itself, which they’ve priced at $50,000.
Alice Lynd of Niles said she was quite pleased, but also a “little bit dismayed” when they put the fence around the garden, but also recognized it was so residents could be safe.
Lynd said she had been heading into the area for a year or two as it was being developed, noting that she could see far into the woods surrounding the area and see birds and deer.
“The garden here is protected, and it can’t be mowed or disturbed in any way, so it can be a natural environmental space; you can see birds, you can see wildflowers if you walk along the outside,” Lynd said. “It’s almost like living in a park; you don’t have to go to Mill Creek Park.”
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