Accessible Garden Takes Root

The Buehler Enabling Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden enhances how older adults and people with disabilities experience the outdoors.

Fact checked by Jim Lacy

The space opened in 2000 with support from the Buehler Family Foundation. It builds on an original garden dating to the 1970s that served rehabilitation patients and people with disabilities. Today, it features raised planter beds, wide paved paths, and adaptive tools that enable participants to garden without kneeling or bending.

Programs include therapeutic horticulture workshops that emphasize sensory engagement — touching and smelling plants — and are adapted for participants with varying physical and cognitive needs. The garden also hosts a monthly group for veterans focused on stress relief. Veterans and youth groups help with seasonal planting in spring and summer. 

“We don’t have formal data, but we see it. People are happier when they leave,” says Alicia Green, Buehler Enabling Garden coordinator.

Visitors also use the space informally, especially caregivers and families seeking an accessible outdoor space. “It’s a very special place,” Green says.

Above Photo: Veterans participate in a therapeutic horticulture workshop. Courtesy of the Chicago Botanic Garden

Originally published in the Summer/Fall 2026 print issue.