Horticultural Therapy in the Community and in Your Own Backyard
By Karen L. Kennedy

Spending time in a garden offers an array of benefits for mind, body and spirit. In professional practice, horticultural therapy effectively uses dynamic people-plant interactions to improve mental, cognitive and physical health, as well as to enhance social development. In addition, you can apply the basic principles of horticultural therapy to create a garden space that fosters your own well-being.

As part of a treatment team that may include physicians, nurses and physical or occupational therapists, horticultural therapists use plants in specific activities that take place in hospitals, nursing homes, schools and correctional facilities. In vocational settings, such as prisons and schools, horticultural therapy is used to help people learn to work independently, solve problems and follow directions. Caring for plants allows people who have been impacted by trauma, mental illness or abuse to experience hopeful and nurturing feelings while at the same time learning responsibility.

Horticultural therapy also can help build muscle and improve coordination, balance and strength. The physical act of weeding can help relieve frustration and stress stored in your body, and the weight-bearing activity associated with gardening can help maintain your strength and bone density. Gardening can help keep arthritis at bay, or it can help rebuild strength and endurance following an illness or injury.

In addition to the physical benefits, gardening engages the senses. Horticultural therapists utilize sensory integration to engage emotion and interest, as well as to foster relaxation. As you plan your own garden, consider including plants and design features that will stimulate your senses of sight, touch, smell, taste and sound. The suggestions below will help you create a relaxing space to enjoy throughout the summer.

Sight
Horticultural therapists use specific plants for their color to create a visual mood in the garden. For example, “cool” colors (pinks, purples, blues and whites) decrease anxiety and promote calmness for people in stressful hospital environments or for those dealing with acute-care situations. When choosing plants for your home-garden arrangement, consider their colors and textures as well as the placement of each. You may wish to use cool colors around a bench where you plan to meditate or read; and use bold, warm colors along a walking path or to surround a dining table. Most importantly, consider this your venue for artistic expression.

Touch
When working with children, horticultural therapists often use textured, touchable plants. The therapists work with children to help them describe the textures they are touching and relate those textures to how they are feeling inside. A touchable plant can invite you to become engaged in a lesser known way in your own garden. Smooth, satiny rose petals, a velvety peppermint geranium leaf, waxy-smooth magnolia leaves and crinkly river-birch bark inspire new garden experiences that create a tangible connection between gardener and nature. After incorporating soft and fuzzy plants such as lamb's ear and pussy willows in patio containers, you may find yourself or guests often reaching out to stroke them.

Smell
The natural fragrance of plants, flowers and even dirt is used in health-care facilities by horticultural therapists. Fragrance can decrease agitation and anxiety, lift feelings of depression and stimulate memories of happy times with loved ones. The scent of gardenia, for example, takes some older adults back to high-school dances where women commonly wore gardenia corsages. Most people have the ability to appreciate a wide range of fragrances, but each person's response to a scent can be different. Regardless, certain fragrances seem to be consistently uplifting, relaxing, invigorating, calming or soothing. The chart above offers suggestions of herbs that will add fragrance to your garden.

Taste
Horticultural therapists have found that the promise of taste is a great reward for the hard work a participant has put into his/her own rehabilitation. In addition, the activity of harvesting can help improve strength, coordination and range of motion. Fruits, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers add to the rewards of maintaining your home garden as well. (Keep in mind that organic-gardening practices are especially important when you plan to eat food that you grow.)

It is not necessary to produce vast quantities of edible plants in a dedicated garden spot, unless that is your objective. Edible plants with ornamental value can be used in a mixed land-scape. Also look for dwarf or patio varieties of your favorite vegetables for growing in con-tainers or other smaller spaces, which will make your garden land-scape more interesting. You will appreciate its form and function in a whole new way.

Sound
Horticultural therapists recognize that a garden should be created to foster a sense of a place away from the busy world. The sound of flowing water, for example, is a meaningful addition to a garden in an industrial setting because it masks outside noises, such as traffic. The peaceful sound of water also creates a relaxing atmosphere in which to discuss coping strategies for dealing with issues of illness. In your home garden, the sound of water splashing from a waterfall or trickling from a self-contained fountain creates a soothing retreat while providing a distraction from other noises. A wall of trees or shrubs can serve as a sound barrier to help buffer traffic noise or other undesirable sounds. The swishing sound of clumps of ornamental grasses or bamboo rustling together in the slightest breeze will play over many background sounds going on around your garden spot. Trees and shrubs will attract wildlife, bringing the songs and sounds of birds and other small creatures into the garden setting.
Effective use of sight, touch, smell, taste and sound are part of what makes horticultural therapy successful in clinical settings and allow you to create a meaningful personal landscape or garden spot. Take stock of what is most important to you and your lifestyle. The keys to stress management, relaxation and quality of life can be grown right in your own back yard.

Karen L. Kennedy has been employed at The Holden Arboretum since 1986 and is responsible for managing the Wellness Program, which includes classes for the public and horticultural therapy outreach services. She is a graduate of Kansas State University. Karen can be reached at The Holden Arboretum by calling (440) 946-4400 or via e-mail at holden@holdenarb.org.

Illustration by Rita Loyd. For more information, visit www.NurturingArt.com. Contact Rita Loyd for a free brochure of Nurturing Art Greeting Cards at rita@nurturingart.com or (256) 880-3935.