Kathryn Walbom's garden, a stone's throw from the E Center and one of the busiest roads in the Salt Lake Valley, is a hidden treasure by any account. For her, though, it is more. It is a healing place, she says, where she can forget about aches, pains and her missing leg.

For the past two decades, Walbom, an avid gardener and occupational and horticultural therapist, has carefully crafted the landscape to an exact fit.

"I have favorite spots everywhere," she says.

And every spot has a purpose. Raised beds make it easy to deadhead without kneeling and they nearly eliminate weeds. Assorted vertical trellises make it simple to reach cucumbers, squash and beans. Rows are wide enough to accommodate a walker or wheelchair, and most important are benches and chairs where visitors and the gardener can sit and rest.

"Pain has always been my middle name," Walbom says, as she takes a break from working in her garden to explain why.

At age 18, Walbom was in a motorcycle accident that left her right leg badly damaged. After years of surgery and therapy, her leg was amputated just below the knee. The pain improved, but she experienced another orthopedic demon - osteoarthritis.

"I guess I have never gardened without a disability," she says. "When I started, it was from a wheelchair."

Soothing movement: The use of a prosthetic lower leg allows the 55-year-old Walbom more movement today, but the wear and tear on her knee results in almost unbearable pain.

Still, she runs a business called Everything Grows and is a consultant to people redesigning their yards and gardens to be more accessible.

In her own garden, foxglove, hollyhocks, cosmos, variegated bamboo, a Japanese black pine, licorice fennel, lavender and a collection of ornamental grasses are among a few of her favorite fixtures. Striking, tall grasses thrive around a pond and waterfall.

"Grasses are underused in our environment. They are easy to grow and offer soothing movement to a garden," she says. "Humans respond to soothing movement. That's why we like things like aquariums."

This year, Walbom has a plan to replace bark and brick pathways with smooth concrete, making the entire quarter-acre garden easily accessible with a wheelchair.

"As I get older, the likelihood of a wheelchair is pretty strong," she says.

But she will never give up the paths through the garden, which seem to invite visitors to walk through and look at every corner.

"In a garden, you need to have interest everywhere, going up and down and on the ground," she says.

'People-plant' power: Even before her formal training, Walbom loved to garden with her mother. After the motorcycle accident, Walbom says she discovered she could blend her two life pursuits: occupational therapy and gardening.

As an occupational therapist, she worked mostly with patients recovering from hip and knee surgery. When she returned to school in the 1980s, she studied horticulture at Utah State University in Logan and eventually became a horticultural therapist registered with the American Horticultural Therapy Association.

"I'm a people-plant person," she says.

But Walbom is quick to credit her able-bodied helpers (son and husband) for constructing some of the most charming elements of the garden: a bridge, a large trellis, a fire pit, several benches and room-sized cage for the doves.

"I think of it, they build it," she says.

Walbom also has numerous planters made from recycled tires. They are tall enough to work in easily, and painted in bright, cheerful colors.

"I like the concept of taking something that trashes the environment and making something useful out of it," she says.

Without exception, the garden is perennial. Annual flowers are reserved for dozens of containers scattered on the deck, not in the beds where they would have to be replaced every year. Maintaining the perennials is simple if she works a little bit each day. The perennials cut down on the amount of on-the-ground planting time.

The arrangement is one echoed by guidelines from the national Arthritis Foundation.

"Create a garden that suits your needs. Assess your abilities and arrange your garden in a way that makes tasks easier and conserves your energy," suggests the Gardening & Arthritis publication.

"I love to be everywhere out here," Walbom says.

And she loves to help other gardeners re-create and adapt their space. Walbom has taught classes geared for elderly or disabled gardeners who find her garden easy to negotiate.

More strategies: Tools designed for children are smaller and lightweight; a plastic bench on wheels is easy to scoot around on and also has a place to store tools. Walbom has a padded bench designed for kneeling, but uses it to sit on, since kneeling is not an option. The bench's metal sides are easy to grab and help her up from the ground.

"I work in a 3-foot circle around where I'm sitting. I turn to the sides and the back before I get up and move. That way I don't have to get up and move so often," she says.

Walbom also believes that reducing stress in life makes it easier to cope with a disability.

"Learn to breathe. Focus on your breathing and you relax instantly, even if you're in pain," she says.

Besides gardening, Walbom practices yoga and exercises regularly.

But it is in the garden where she finds the most solace. Every minute there is a treasure and Walbom has dedicated her life to teaching other people simple ways to make gardening easier. Outside the dove cage rests a statue of St. Francis and a sign that sums up the experience inside her garden. It reads: Walk in Peace.

hgroutage@sltrib.com

Gardening with arthritis and other disabilities

l Rest. The balance of rest and work is the most important element of gardening with disabilities. Limit work to short, 10-minute sessions that are followed by 10 minutes of rest.

l Alter garden tools with long handles, thick, padded handles and braces that slip over the wrist, putting less stress on sore hands.

l Always carry a telephone, cordless or cell, when working in the garden in case you need to call someone for help.

l Use tools designed for children because they are lighter.

l Replace low beds with raised bed and planters.

l Make pathways smooth, free of stones and uneven surfaces that might create tripping and falling hazards.

l Garden in a carpenter's apron or smock with pockets for carrying tools.

l Use a hand truck or dolly to move bags of soil from place to place in the yard.

l More information: http://www.arthritis.org; Everything Grows at 801-974-0853. Katherine Walbom offers classes in her Salt Lake County garden for $50 for groups up to 12 or on-site consultations for $40 an hour.

- Katherine Walbom; National Arthritis Foundation

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