Spring brings back fond memories of my mom and I heading to the nursery to select flowers to plant in our yard. Now, thanks to innovation, we are finding high tech gardening is fun and rewarding.
To this day, I look forward to wandering the aisles to see the annual spring blooms that will color my flower beds each year. Even as mom approaches 80 years old, gardening is an activity we still enjoy doing together. That is because gardening offers so many benefits for seniors, including psychological, physical and social.
Smiles are Blooming
One of the many positive outcomes from gardening for seniors is psychological in nature. Exposure to nature through outdoor activities can enhance your mental well-being through emotion regulation and stress relief. Classic early research reveals that viewing nature through windows or in pictures can positively affect stress levels, lower blood pressure and slow heart rate. Natural environments require less attention and can act as a distraction from daily hassles and challenges. In fact, simply being in a garden or viewing elements of a garden may provide relaxation and restoration, especially for frail older adults.
Get the Heart Pumping and the Blood Flowing
Gardening requires regular and continuous care of the plants, thus offering numerous opportunities for increased physical activity. This is a positive byproduct for seniors. For older adults actively engaged with their home gardens, gardening can help prevent osteoporosis and reduce the risk of some cancers, Type 2 diabetes, depression and heart disease.
Connecting with Others
Allowing people to connect with nature and each other might just be the best quality of gardening. A sense of community may be especially important for older adults, particularly during periods of change such as retirement from employment or a move to a new city. Connecting with members of a gardening group offers social support and contributes positively to the lives of others. In addition, it can be an important protective factor against isolation and loneliness.
High Tech Helps Your Green Thumb
Even with the many benefits for seniors derived from gardening, there can still be challenges. Questions arise when we’re selecting new plants. Will this plant work in my garden? How much light does this plant require? How much water should this plant receive? Do I need to fertilize this plant?
Recently, I was introduced to a new technology created to make gardening easier. It’s called PlantTAGG and is an easy to use webapp either right from a smartphone or desktop computer. This innovative technology takes the guesswork out of gardening, and it makes it more enjoyable for both my mom and me.
PlantTAGG helps gardeners achieve higher levels of gardening success. The content is backed by Master Gardeners and localized for your specific yard and area. It’s focused on four key elements:
Discover
Identify and learn about plants using your mobile phone when shopping at a garden center, on a neighborhood walk or in your local community garden.
Design
Choose from Master Gardener curated landscape design styles. PlantTAGG automatically recommends complementary plants to help you achieve the perfect look.
Select
Make smarter plant choices! PlantTAGG’s Thrive Scorecard™ lets you know which flowers and plants will thrive based on your precise yard conditions.
Grow
Know exactly how to care for all your plants based on where you live, the parameters of each microclimate (sun, water, soil), and the needs of each plant.
Give it a try! It’s free to use right from your phone. Simply text “PLANTS” to 46376 to get started. You, too, can experience how high tech gardening is fun and rewarding.
Watch this video to learn more about PlantTAGG.
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