Ann Robins walks through her garden with the help of a cane. Her pace is slow, but it's measured and with purpose.

Her garden is not your average garden. It's more of a wildlife sanctuary, home to dozens of flowers, trees, vegetables, herbs and shrubs, as well as creatures like birds, toads, bees, moths and butterflies.

When she started building this garden back in 2009, she spent about two hours a day working on it. Today, partly because of her limited mobility, it's more like two hours a week. "This is a low-maintenance garden," she says.

Age And Adapt

As for former biologist, zoologist really, Ann is very knowledgeable. And she takes her love and knowledge of wildlife to the Gardening Program at the Endwright Center, part of Indiana's Area 10 Agency on Aging.

"When we were trying to get people to come to the classes, a lot of older people told me, ‘Oh, you know, I'd love to do that, I used to garden, but I just can't do that anymore,'" says Laura Cray, the Nutrition Program Manager for Area 10. She runs the Gardening Program at the Endwright Center. "So that just kind of got me thinking ‘I wonder if there's a way for older people to continue to garden.'"

Gardening as you get older can be a challenge. There's the issue of mobility, not to mention the constant bending over one has to do to tend to a garden. To help address some of these issues, Cray has introduced some new things, like looser soil for easy weeding and taller-than-usual raised beds that are easy to access from a wheelchair.

"It's great for people with arthritis to keep moving and keep those joints lubricated so it reduces their pain," she says. "It's also great to get outside. You get a lot of sunlight that way, so you get more vitamin D, which is great for everybody but especially older folks."

Growing And Cooking

It's also a great source of nutritious food. Part of the gardening program's mission is to provide food for Endwright Center's "Cooking for One" Class and the Mobile Food Pantry.

But ultimately the gardening program is a community. It's a place for people who love gardening to gather and share how they've had to adapt to gardening as they've gotten older, and perhaps learn a few new techniques along the way.

"It's a lot of fun, I enjoy it even though it's hard on us now," says 76-year-old Jean Bruce.

Jean, like Ann, is also a member of the gardening program. When her kids were around, she grew food to feed her family. (Her beans with a family favorite.) Now that she's on her own, she gardens mostly for the enjoyment. "It's just part of your life, it's good for the soul."

As Jean has gotten older, she's had to adapt her gardening technique. She has knee problems and is getting a knee replacement, so that means she has trouble tending to her beans. She's come up with a solution -- grow her plants near a fence or a pole.

"When they grow then, all you have to do is reach up there and get them, instead of getting down to pick the bush beans," she says.

Ready And Waiting

Addressing the challenges of aging in gardening requires careful planning. For Jean, it meant constructing those fences and poles before the growing season. For Ann and her wildlife sanctuary, it's been designed from the beginning to weather any challenges.

Her low maintenance garden is more or less self-sustaining. The diversity of plant and animal life means it's kind of like its own ecosystem. This is crucial because Ann, like Jean, is getting knee surgery soon. "I have to stay out of the garden for about a month," she says.

But since she's designed her garden take care of itself, that means that it will be there waiting for her when she's recovered.