Photo by Bronwyn Wilson
Jenny Gunderson designed “The Plant-A-Head for Alzheimer’s Memory Garden” featuring head sculptures coiffed with plants, such as the above Cushion Bush (Calocephalus brownii) hairdo.

Only their hairdressers know for sure

A small replica of the White House caught the attention of Ronald Reagan. It rested at the bottom of a bubbling aquarium. Colorful fish visited the mini-White House rather frequently.

“This is …. something to do with me …. I’m not sure what,” Reagan said as he reached into the aquarium and grabbed it. Biographer Edmund Morris recounts what the former U.S. President did next … “He takes it home, wet in his fist.”

Alzheimer’s disease had reduced Reagan to a confused man who lived inside his own mind. No longer leader of the free world, he spent his days sweeping leaves from his swimming pool. He didn’t realize his guards would quietly put the leaves back so he would have something to do.

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s. From U.S. Presidents to movie stars, the disease strikes without discrimination. It begins its attack with forgetfulness so severe it affects work, lifelong hobbies and social situations. As the disease progresses, confusion, trouble with organizing and expressing thoughts, misplacing things, getting lost in familiar places and changes in personality and behavior, set in.

Jenny Gunderson co-owns My Garden Nursery in Mill Creek with Bill Raynolds. She knows the progression of Alzheimer’s too well. Her father lived with the disease for six years.

Her mother currently lives with it. It’s a helpless feeling to watch your parents decline without hope of a cure.

Jenny decided to do turn hopelessness into hope. “There had to be a reason both my parents had, and have, Alzheimer’s,” she said. “Now I own this nursery and I can promote the cause of creating a world without Alzheimer’s.”

As a first step, Jenny designed and planted a memory garden at the back of her nursery. The beautifully unique garden features an array of artistic head sculptures throughout a landscaped setting. Plants pop out of the sculptured heads. The look has a futuristic appeal of botanical hairstyles. Jenny calls the garden “The Plant-a-Head for Alzheimer’s Memory Garden.”

She explained, “I needed a way to represent a garden for Alzheimer’s and this is my way of doing that.”

It’s a great idea and I have to wonder. Why don’t people have plant hairdos? Just think of the styles. Spiky Black Mondo Grass for your wild and crazy mood. Hellebores for that blooming hairstyle you want to last throughout the winter. And a Sweet Woodruff ‘do’ would be great for weddings with its delicate, airy flowers. I see some drawbacks, however. You’d have to water your head frequently. Adding compost could cause social dilemmas. “Would you excuse me, I have to compost my head.” Or “Would you mind? I need to spritz my new ‘do’ with a pick-me-up spritzer of 10-10-10 fertilizer.”

Although Jenny’s memory garden depicts a lighthearted spirit, the meaning behind the garden has serious intent. That is, to find a cure for Alzheimer’s.

I recently met with Jenny to discuss her personal experience with the disease. Susie Egan — another great garden enthusiast whose life is touched by a loved one with Alzheimer’s — joined us.

We sat in a bright sunlit restaurant. Its cheery atmosphere of white linen tablecloths and happy music seemed like an ironic backdrop to our conversation.

“The basic beginning of Alzheimer’s begins with forgetting how to write a check and progresses to loss of verbal communication,” Jenny said, explaining that her mother has had Alzheimer’s for seven years. “My mother doesn’t know I’m her daughter. She only knows I’m a person that makes her smile.”

Susie’s mother has lived with Alzheimer’s for ten years. “I love my mother, but she’s not the same person,” Susie said.

I asked how the disease has personally affected them and Jenny replied, “You grieve for the loss of this person who is still alive.”

Susie added, “It’s sad because this person isn’t like the person they used to be.”

Jenny’s mother was the president of the Washington Poet’s Association. “Words were everything to her. Now she can’t put two words together,” said Jenny.

Susie recalled the first signs of her mother’s illness. “At first she couldn’t find her purse. Then she did the tax returns and forgot she sent them in. So she did them again. She got to the point where she couldn’t read or watch a movie. Halfway into the movie she forgot the plot.”

Jenny cared for her dad until he passed away. The experience left her programmed to keep checking on him. To this day she still wakes at night as a habit to see if he’s okay. “He would wander at night,” Jenny said. “One night he put on his trench coat and hat and believed he had killed someone. You just have to go with it, you can’t argue with them.”

“The caregiver has a hard time of it. It’s hard on the whole family,” Susie added.

“But it’s okay to do what you’re comfortable with,” Jenny said. “I love my mom a lot but I just couldn’t take care of her any longer.”

Thinking back on her care giving days for her dad, Jenny said, “Overall, the experience with my father was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but the love that was wrapped around all that was wonderful.”

And it’s love as well as hope that motivates Jenny now. She and partner Bill Raynolds will host “My Garden Fire & Wine Evening” on Friday, September 14, 6 to 9 p.m., at their nursery on Bothell-Everett Hwy. They invite the public to view the Plant-A-Head memory garden in addition to the water fountain that promises a spectacular show of flames.

Wine tasting from Woodinville Wine Cellars will be available in addition to music, yummy snacks, and a representative from the Alzheimer’s Association.

Those attending will also have the opportunity to purchase perennials at 40 percent off. Cost for the event is only $20

with $10 going to the Alzheimer’s Association. Jenny and Bill would love to see you there. RSVP to (425) 402-1842. Plant hairstyles optional.