Vivian Anderson loved to garden and she always enjoyed taking long walks. Unfortunately this made her a high-risk wanderer once she moved to Inglewood Care Centre as a resident with Alzheimer’s.  Frustrated by the fact that her mom could no longer just step out the door and stroll in a safe and pretty environment, her daughter, Kerry McPhedran, decided to take action.  That action resulted in the creation of the Inglewood Friendship Garden. 

Two and a half years after conception, what was once a boggy area of grass and weeds, is now a lovely fenced garden where residents can either sit and relax on cedar benches or meander around the walkway stopping to smell a lilac blossom or watch birds take a dip in the birdbath. Gaily painted birdhouses sit jauntily atop fence posts and a cedar planter box provides the perfect spot to dig in some vegetable or flower plants and seeds. Soon there will be a garden shed where residents and their families can pick up and use a rake, a broom to sweep, or a push mower to cut the grass.

A loyal and dedicated group of residents’ family members and volunteers fundraised $50,000 for the project, spurred on by Sally Sapinsky who recalled the pleasure her dad Ray Claydon took in raking leaves at Inglewood, happy to be useful. Generous donations began to come in steadily from families, friends, North Shore organizations and businesses. The facility owners  matched every $2 donation with $1.  Landscape architect Jonathan Losee generously donated his firm’s design services.  At Christmas, a tree donated by the local Boy Scouts lit up the centre of the unfinished garden in a magical show of coloured lights and decorations. This spring, thanks to a kind donation of close to 1000 spring bulbs from local North Shore garden centres, the previously bare garden was a sea of pink, purple, yellow, orange, red and white blossoms.

On Saturday, May 1^st, a truck pulled up to the garden gate and excited volunteers unloaded the likes of lilacs, rhododendrons, star magnolias, an apple tree, rudebekias, clematis and more.  They laid them out and then set to work digging, fertilizing and watering. Sandwiches and pickles and drink were brought in and by the end of a long day, almost like magic, there appeared a garden.  Residents who had watched the hive of activity all day, got up from their chairs and  began to walk around their garden.

By Jennifer Gaze

Did you know...
That simply looking at trees and vegetation reduces stress, lowers blood pressure and relieves muscles tension?
Kerry McPhedran

I'm a gardener and I'm OK
I sleep all night and I plant all day!
I dress in grubby clothing, and hang around with slugs.
Oh I'm happy in the garden
With dirt and plants and bugs . . .
(to the tune of Monty Python's "I'm a Lumberjack")

Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration.
- Lou Erickson

A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining,
the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing,
and the lawn mower is broken.
- James Dent

When the sun rises, I go to work.
When the sun goes down I take my rest,
I dig the well from which I drink,
I farm the soil which yields my food,
I share creation, Kings can do no more.
- Chinese Proverb, 2500 B.C.