Garden for Life: Strategies for Easier, Greener, More Joyful Gardening as We Age

From award-winning writer and photographer Rhonda Fleming Hayes comes the perfect guide to help you evaluate, redesign, and right-size your garden space as you age--to make gardening easier, more sustainable, and perennially fun!

In Garden for Life, Rhonda Fleming Hayes brings a lifetime of gardening experience, research-based advice, and collective wisdom to older gardeners who are looking for inspiration and practical strategies. This delightful comprehensive guide presents new techniques and tools to make gardening less strenuous, and highlights plants that "multitask" to make a garden more sustainable--for both the gardener and the environment. It also advises on how and when to ask for help to lighten the load so we can focus on the life-enhancing aspects of spending time in the garden.

Garden for Life reminds us that gardening is a simple way to answer the human need to connect with nature, a craving called biophilia, while highlighting its many proven health benefits. Gardening offers a low-intensity workout with a variety of natural movements, provides a sense of purpose while nurturing a meditative state that decreases stress, fosters improved nutrition and better brain health, and grows social connection and community. In short, gardening is excellent for health and longevity!

"I love the message of Garden for Life because it's not about doing less and giving up what we love. It's about gardening smarter."--Joe Lamp'l

Author: Rhonda Fleming Hayes
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
Published: 04/21/2026
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.36lbs
Size: 9.98h x 7.03w x 0.53d
ISBN: 9781645023258

About the Author
Rhonda Fleming Hayes is the author of Pollinator Friendly Gardening: Gardening for Bees, Butterflies, and Other Pollinators and an award- winning writer and photographer applying her passion to all things plant-related. Combining  a lifetime of gardening experience with wit and solid research-based advice, her stories can be found in the Minnesota Star Tribune, Northern Gardener, and Mpls/StPaul Magazine. She has also been published in Southern Living, Midwest Living, Savannah Magazine, and numerous online sites. She's a popular speaker for garden clubs and other groups with presentations covering pollinators, butterfly gardening, native plants, and the art of kitchen gardening, to name a few. Rhonda is a native Californian with Southern roots living in Minnesota. Nowadays she and her husband spend winters in New Orleans, where she delights in growing her own lemons. She has also lived and gardened in Tennessee, Kansas (twice), Illinois (twice), Iowa, and even England. Regardless of location, she has learned to bloom where she's planted. 

Rhonda gardens in Minneapolis in an urban neighborhood surrounded by woods and water. The abundant plot is home to many bees, butterflies, birds, and beneficial insects. She loves to share the fruits (and veggies) of her garden with friends, family, and wildlife. She has volunteered as an Extension Master Gardener since 2000. She is a member of GardenComm, the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, the Herb Society of America, and is a past trustee of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.