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Baty gardens in several spots around The Parkdale Senior Living, including this plot in front of the entrance. Baty has been able to continue her passion for gardening, which includes the co-creation of a sprawling garden with her husband at their old home in Mount Clemens.
Photo by Dean Vaglia
MOUNT CLEMENS — The last time Barbara Baty found herself in the news, she was lauded for having one of Mount Clemens’ finest gardens. In five years, things have changed both greatly and not at all.
Baty still gardens, avidly so, but now she’s exchanged her house and lush yard on Esplanade Street for a room just up Gratiot at The Parkdale Senior Living in Clinton Township.
“It just got too much for me,” said Baty, 84. “I just couldn’t keep the garden up.”
Keeping up such a garden would be a challenge for anyone, let alone a single senior. Baty has been a gardener for her entire life and began the Esplanade garden when she moved to the home with her late husband, Don, in 1967.
“My husband was a gardener, too, and he and I did the gardening together,” Baty said. “He just kept taking grass out and adding more garden. He’d say, ‘Too much grass,’ and another spot would go free of grass and be flowers, and then he died 10 years ago.”
Barbara and Don built a sprawling garden featuring, among other plants, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, two varieties of grapes, hibiscus, perennials, lilacs, a cherry tree and coneflowers.
After Don’s death, Baty was able to keep maintaining the garden, but eventually the work of maintaining it and the house grew too much for her. But just because the Esplanade garden was too much did not mean Baty was ready to give up the green thumb. Since moving to The Parkdale, Baty has maintained several gardens around the property: one in front of the entrance, and another garden accessible from within the building, as well as some planters in the front.
“I love that Laurie (Russell, senior executive director of The Parkdale) has allowed me to carry my garden over to here,” Baty said. “And they bought some plants for me, so I did the things in the front with the petunias.”
Finding a senior center that allowed Baty to keep gardening was key to why she chose to go with The Parkdale, along with already having a friend living there.
Russell says accommodating the interests of residents is a normal part of The Parkdale’s procedures.
“For us, it’s really important for our seniors to be able to be independent in a supportive community where they can still nurture the things that they love doing,” Russell said. “They shouldn’t lose things when they move to a senior living community.”
Baty hasn’t been alone in gardening at The Parkdale. Several residents and visitors have taken up fertilizing and watering the flowers. Residents have also made crafts and painted decorations to go around the gardens.
“Barb has really gotten the whole community involved in her love for flowers, and she teaches people about the different flowers,” Russell said. “She really educates people on how to care for them. She’s taught me a lot about flowers.”
As for the old garden at Esplanade, whatever Baty hasn’t taken and replanted at The Parkdale is staying with the house. And while she will no longer be able to care for the garden herself, the family that bought the home on Esplanade has promised to keep the garden in good shape.
“A young family is buying it, and they love flowers,” Baty said. “They have two little boys and the cover letter that she sent to me when I accepted her offer (was) I walked in this house and it felt like home. I walk in the backyard and I recognize a lot of the flowers even though it is overgrown right now.’”
