I was looking through our dining room sideboard a few weeks ago in an attempt to locate the watermelon placemats for the dining room table. Maybe it's the time of year, time for clearing out clutter, putting away the old (or out of season) and bringing forth the new, and by doing so I treated myself to a gift of gardening.
In the sideboard was a stack of about 7 National Geographic magazines some dating from as far back as 1962 right up to 1992. I don't remember why I put those magazines in the sideboard or why I decided to pull them out, but I am glad I did. I went over the headlines in each magazine and found one from 1992 called The Gift of Gardening; what joy!
What I found when I read this article was 31 pages of heart warming, insightful and informative information and the 30 photographs didn't hurt either. Who can turn away from picture upon picture of gardens, urban and rural, flower and vegetable? The writer shared a variety of gardening experiences from all over America making a point that gardening, as a leisure activity was surpassing all other leisure activities in America (remember, that was 1992 and that claim still holds true in 2008).
What caught my attention was that gardening was being used in many institutions as therapy; horticulture therapy - so on I read. Charles A. Lewis of the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois said "once you start looking at gardens and gardening as they affect people, you find a powerful tool." The power is "in the process of gardening one becomes very personally involved. You become aware of larger forces in the world than man-made ones." Gardening has taken me outside of myself and brought me to my knees, literally. Next time you see me ask me about the time I made eye contact with one of the many night crawlers in our garden?
Did you know that "stress levels rise and fall in relation to the proximity of plants?" This is according to Diane Relf, of the Horticulture Department at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. I don't know about you but I can attest to this fact. My adrenaline sure gets pumping when I am about to visit a new garden or nursery. I believe it is akin to the way some folks feel when they enter a casino. Ah, but once in 'that garden' or 'nursery' my adrenaline rush subsides and calmness comes over me leading me down each path or aisle in a peace-filled fashion; lingering here and there, sometimes for hours.
Ms. Relf cited a study of patients in a Pennsylvania hospital where those whose rooms faced gardens recovered more quickly than those whose rooms faced walls; they were also more civil to the hospital staff. The article goes on to mention the use of Horticulture Therapy at detention facilities. One facility in Nashville selects inmates who get to attend classes and then work in the facility’s greenhouses. Mr. Jeff Philpott, vocational horticulturist at a facility explains that he has had people with 3rd grade reading and college graduates attend his sessions "...and all of them are amazed when they find out how essential plants are to the existence of us all"; the Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs strongly supports the program with one of their members proposing the idea back in 1986.
It is not surprising that we are hearing more and more about Horticultural Therapy; what is surprising is the time it has taken for it to become known to the average British Columbian. In all fairness I have to say that many of us are aware of the therapeutic benefits of gardens and gardening but don't call it Horticultural Therapy, we just call it serenity gardening and for many of us it is a passion we love to share with others.
Anyways, I checked the internet today and found that we do indeed have a Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association and their website tells me that they have been incorporated since 1987 with a “network of over 250 members across the country and abroad.” Their members include occupational therapists, physiotherapists, recreation therapists, social workers, nurses, psychologists, landscape architects and designers, horticulturists and people who have a passion for gardening. They work in a variety of settings from nursing homes and hospitals to vocational training centers and prisons.
Article written in 2008 by Darlene Cross - Okanagan Master Gardener
Source - National Geographic May 1992 issue, Assistant Editor - William S. Ellis
For more information contact the Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association, 100 Westmount Road, Guelph, ON, N1H 5H8 or visit their website at http://www.chta.ca/
Photo courtesy Darlene Cross
