MONROE - Gardening is good for one's mental well-being as well as physical health, according to Bill Bittner, a resident at Pleasant View Nursing Home.
Having farmed for 40 years north of Juda, Bittner, now 67, said he's not about to lay around in a nursing home bed.
"I come out here, (where) you can touch the flowers," he said. "It's like they say, you gotta smell the flowers."
Along one walkway and in a separate flower bed, Bittner has planted an array of flowers, marigolds, daisies, dahlias and Tiger Lilies, which Patricia, his wife of 45 years, buys and brings to him.
He also manages to tuck several potato and onion plants in among the flowers.
"I'm going to dig 'em up and eat 'em," he said, with a grin.
Bittner hasn't been able to walk for 10 years; doctors don't know why, he said. And Bittner has dialysis three times a week.
But his disabilities haven't stopped him from starting and tending the raised flower beds, which have brought comments of praise and appreciation, especially from the staff members who pass by them on their way to work.
The gardens show Pleasant View is a home, social worker Sarah Brinkmeier said.
"We're a home, first and foremost," she said. "It's good to water and tend something and watch it grow."
Bittner has been at Pleasant View for about four years. Two or three years ago, he took the initiative to start gardening.
"I like to be outside," he said. "And I found out they had these planters."
So with a little help from the staff, Bittner got the planter moved closer to the patio and had a strip of ground tilled up along the walkway retaining wall. Both beds are at a height perfect for his reach from a wheelchair.
Bittner said he gives thanks to the people who voted this spring for a referendum that helped keep Pleasant View open and to the new Administrator Terry Hensel.
"Give due where it's due," he said. "Especially the elderly, we get the best of care and the new administrator is super good."
Bittner said he choose Pleasant View, where his mother spent 20 years, when he had to go to a nursing home.
"She got good help. I said, if it was good enough for my mother, it was good enough for me," he said.
Residents now have more reasons to get outside the facility, where they can smell the flowers and find Bittner tending the gardens.
"Especially at night," he said. "Then you can hear the birds sing and see the lights of Monroe in the distance."
Having farmed for 40 years north of Juda, Bittner, now 67, said he's not about to lay around in a nursing home bed.
"I come out here, (where) you can touch the flowers," he said. "It's like they say, you gotta smell the flowers."
Along one walkway and in a separate flower bed, Bittner has planted an array of flowers, marigolds, daisies, dahlias and Tiger Lilies, which Patricia, his wife of 45 years, buys and brings to him.
He also manages to tuck several potato and onion plants in among the flowers.
"I'm going to dig 'em up and eat 'em," he said, with a grin.
Bittner hasn't been able to walk for 10 years; doctors don't know why, he said. And Bittner has dialysis three times a week.
But his disabilities haven't stopped him from starting and tending the raised flower beds, which have brought comments of praise and appreciation, especially from the staff members who pass by them on their way to work.
The gardens show Pleasant View is a home, social worker Sarah Brinkmeier said.
"We're a home, first and foremost," she said. "It's good to water and tend something and watch it grow."
Bittner has been at Pleasant View for about four years. Two or three years ago, he took the initiative to start gardening.
"I like to be outside," he said. "And I found out they had these planters."
So with a little help from the staff, Bittner got the planter moved closer to the patio and had a strip of ground tilled up along the walkway retaining wall. Both beds are at a height perfect for his reach from a wheelchair.
Bittner said he gives thanks to the people who voted this spring for a referendum that helped keep Pleasant View open and to the new Administrator Terry Hensel.
"Give due where it's due," he said. "Especially the elderly, we get the best of care and the new administrator is super good."
Bittner said he choose Pleasant View, where his mother spent 20 years, when he had to go to a nursing home.
"She got good help. I said, if it was good enough for my mother, it was good enough for me," he said.
Residents now have more reasons to get outside the facility, where they can smell the flowers and find Bittner tending the gardens.
"Especially at night," he said. "Then you can hear the birds sing and see the lights of Monroe in the distance."