Outdoor Experience at WillowBrooke Court

Lisa’s Garden at WIllowBrooke Court provides an outdoor experience that is engaging, provides comfortable visiting areas and encourages residents to go outdoors to reap the many benefits provided by interacting with nature. A continuous railed corridor around the garden provides a back porch experience, encourages walking in an area protected by the elements and allows a transition area between indoor residential areas and the garden.

The garden focus is a pond with waterfall and aquatic plantings. The pond creates an intriguing backdrop and is shaped to provide spaces of a variety of sizes and character where residents and staff can enjoy natural settings while visiting with family and friends. The shallow pond was carefully designed with raised buffers of plants, stones and benches to provide a safety zone between the water and the residents. Wide flat weirs of water will create a soft, soothing water sound.

An edible gardening area will allow residents to grow herbs, vegetables and fruit in pots, specially designed “herb towers” and in raised planters. An adjacent shaded summer kitchen provides an area for outdoor entertaining.

Resident comfort was considered in many of the design features and elements: tinted concrete to reduce glare, curbed planting areas to prevent walker slippage, way finding elements on walls, vending machines for refreshment, and storage and hose bibs to accommodate a variety of garden programming.