Community garden day makes it 'feel like spring' at Conestoga Lodge Retirement Home

A Kitchener retirement home hosted their annual planting party on Monday.

The event gives residents at Conestoga Lodge Retirement Home a chance to get outside and spend some quality time with staff.

"It makes you feel like spring's here and summer's here already, so it feels good," said resident Brian Starr.

"A lot of them don't have family members around any longer, so it's a great chance just for them to have congregation time and social time with other residents, [and] get to know the staff members on a personal level as well," Jon Vanasselt, the executive director of Conestoga Lodge Retirement Home, said.

Staff members help from start to finish.

"First, we're taking all the weeds out, and then we're going to be planting flowers that our family has given us," explained Miranda Bonkowski, the activity director at Conestoga Lodge Retirement Home.

"It's fun,” Starr added. “Everybody helps each other. We're helping them guys plant the plants and all that stuff.”

Residents and staff planted an array of flowers on Monday.

"Hydrangeas, we've got some lavender, we've got Sharon of Rose (Rose of Sharon),” explained Bonkowski. “We have a sunflower over there that we're going to be planting. We have some petunias.”

Resident Shirley Westwood appreciates the efforts of everybody.

"Just for the beauty of it, I think. To me anyways, it's beauty," she said.

Some plants were donated, others were started from seed by residents and brought outside.

"[There’s] a greenhouse down in the activity room,” Westwood explained. “They set it up for us. So we grew basil, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers."

The home has been hosting the gardening day for more than 10 years. Staff said it has also been recognized by the ‘Kitchener in Bloom Community Garden’ program

"Many of our residents have gardened in their past and have a lot of experience with gardening, so they're a great asset to us in this situation,” Vanasselt said. “But they can also reap the rewards all summer long on something they may not have done for a decade or two themselves.”

A simple day, for a year of smiles.

"It's wonderful, yes," Westwood said.