Growing Together
June 20, 2025 | Giving at Kline Galland, Health & Wellness, Kline Galland Home, Other News
Kline Galland Gardens
Gardens are quietly powerful. More than just flowers and soil, gardens can be a shared space that cultivates joy, healing, and connection. In honor of National Pollinators Month, we’re celebrating the vibrant green spaces across our campuses and the many ways they enrich the lives of those who live, work, and visit here. From friendly plants that invite nature’s helpers to raised garden beds that encourage every ability to participate, the gardens of Kline Galland are living proof that growth continues at every stage of life.
At Kline Galland Home, our gardens include: The Marty Bender Family Garden, The Alhadeff Foundation Hospice Garden, The Quint Sensory Garden and the newly opened Cohen Staff Garden.
Rooted in wellness
Gardens provide real health benefits for everyone, especially older adults. Positive effects of gardening were first documented for mental health and illness in the 19th century. In the 1940s and 50s, horticultural therapy practices helped veterans for a wide range of diagnoses. In seniors, research shows that gardening activities can:
- Improve mobility and hand strength.
- Reduce blood pressure and stress.
- Promote better sleep and mood.
- Encourage social connection and reduce feelings of isolation.
At Kline Galland, these benefits come to life in thoughtfully designed outdoor spaces where residents can stroll, sit, reflect, or dig into the soil themselves. Our therapeutic gardens include a number of elements recommended by the American Horticultural Therapy Association to improve resident, staff, and visitor care, like:
- Planned activities and programs: Scheduled events and guided gardening tasks help individuals engage more deeply with the space, fostering routine visits and community involvement.
- Accessible features: Garden paths, tools, and planting beds are adapted to meet a wide range of physical needs, allowing everyone to explore, observe, and participate at their own pace.
- Clear boundaries and zones: Defined edges and garden “rooms” focus attention and provide cues that guide movement and highlight specific plants or activities.
- Lush plant life and interaction: A diverse array of plants offers year-round sensory stimulation and encourages hands-on experiences like planting, smelling, and touching.
- Safe and supportive environment: Gardens are designed to be low-risk and high-comfort, avoiding harsh chemicals while offering shade and seating in a calming atmosphere.
- Universal design for all abilities: Gardens stimulate multiple senses and support meaningful interaction for people of all ages and abilities.
- Sense of place and belonging: Visually simple and emotionally rich, the gardens are an inviting, easy-to-navigate environment that fosters comfort, identity, and connection.
The gardens at Kline Galland can provide a renewed sense of purpose and accomplishment through activities, a place to reflect and relax in the calm of nature, or providing a vibrant background for celebrations and milestones.
Student landscaping teams and volunteers carefully select native and flowering plants to support pollinators throughout the season. Lavender, echinacea, black-eyed Susans, and salvia aren’t just beautiful, they’re essential to maintaining the cycle of growth. Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds are drawn to the colorful blooms, adding dynamic beauty, reminding us of the interconnectedness of all life. Plus, these plantings also provide visual interest and seasonal color that engage and spark memories.
Garden spotlight: Cohen Staff Garden
We’re proud to share the opening of the new Staff Garden at Kline Galland Home—a peaceful, thoughtfully designed space made possible by a generous gift from Jeff and Betsy Cohen and a partnership with the students of University of Washington’s Department of Landscape Architecture.
Created with our staff in mind, the garden offers a quiet place to enjoy a meal, connect with colleagues, or simply take a well-earned break. With hand-painted art, shaded seating, and greenery all around, it’s a space that reflects the care and appreciation we have for our team.
Thank you to everyone who helped bring this project to life.
Growing together
Kline Galland’s gardens are more than a seasonal attraction. They’re part of our ongoing commitment to exceptional senior care—every day, in every way, for everyone. Whether it’s the quiet buzz of bees, the splash of color in a flower bed, or the feeling of soil between one’s fingers, our outdoor spaces offer daily reminders that life continues to grow—and so do we.
If you are interested in bringing a garden to life, please contact:
Nate Nusbaum, Chief Philanthropy Officer
206-456-9702
NateN@klinegalland.org
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Sources: Springer Nature; Science Daily; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Greater Good Health; SAGE Open Medicine; AHTA
