Naomi Sachs « Therapeutic Landscapes Network

I Demand Satisfaction! The Role of Nature in Job Satisfaction

June 24, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

Photo by Naomi Sachs

Not the dueling kind, but the kind that involves psychological well-being.

The next time you need a reason for investing in a garden, or windows that look out onto an interesting view, or even some indoor plants, you can cite this new study which has linked job satisfaction to views of live plants or windows:

“Individuals working in spaces with live interior plants or window views have significantly higher levels of job satisfaction than people who work in spaces without live plants or windows: “Findings indicated that individuals who worked in offices with plants and windows reported that they felt better about their job and the work they performed. This study also provided evidence that those employees who worked in offices that had plants or windows reported higher overall quality-of-life scores.” Live plants in an office, even without the window views, lead to more positive psychological states.”

Andrea Dravigne, Tina Waliczek, R. Lineberger, and J. Zajicek. 2008. “The Effect of Live Plants and Window Views of Green Spaces on Employee Perceptions of Job Satisfaction.” HortScience, vol. 43, p. 279.

I found this study listed on Research Design Connections, an excellent resource for anyone in the design and healthcare fields.

This is the view out my office door, so I have no excuses for not loving my work!

Herbarium: Healing Garden and Horticultural Therapy in Santiago, Chile

June 20, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

One of the coolest things about running the Therapeutic Landscapes Database and Blog is hearing from people all over the world. Marie Arana-Urioste, HTR, emailed me recently from Santiago, Chile with information about the Herbarium, “a non profit organization and a therapeutic garden dedicated to Horticultural Therapy for all in need. We are the first (and only at the moment) HT Certificate dictated in Spanish and in Latin America. We work with people with disabilities using the garden and gardening as a tool. The Herbarium (since 1989) is also a Herb Nursery, we grow organically.” Most of their website has been translated into English (and I’m linking directly to the English-translated site), but If you speak Spanish, click on the Spanish flag at the bottom of the menu. Sounds like a great model; if anyone out there knows of comparable places elsewhere in the world (including the U.S.), I’d love to list more.

Moveable Feast

June 19, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

I haven’t blogged much about products so far, but I saw the Food Map Container and just had to share. This raised garden on wheels would be ideal for a space where you really want to take advantage of the sun (our pesky planet earth does tend to move around over the course of the growing season), or for one small space that has to do double, triple, etc. duty for multiple programmatic needs (e.g., horticultural therapy one day, a group celebration the next, and a cook-out later in the day), or for easy out-of-sight storage in the winter. It’s not the best raised planter for people in wheelchairs, as you can’t pull up underneath, but one could at least gain easy access from the sides, and two heights are available, one that’s good for kids and people sitting down, and the other for adults who don’t want to crawl around on their hands and knees while they plant, weed, and harvest their dinner. And Jon Wilson, co-founder and chief designer of Food Map Design, has informed me that they will start doing colors in the fall, as well as a tray that attaches underneath the rolling container so you can even move the whole feast inside. I can picture it now, a posh grazing dinner party (fundraiser, of course) with these containers as the centerpiece…

Growing Stronger, Inc.

June 15, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

In honor of Father’s Day, here’s an article that my dad sent me from the Hartford Courant about Growing Stronger, Inc., a non-profit organization in Willimantic, CT. This mentoring and service program “takes young women who are in recovery or fresh out of jail and trains them in the art of landscaping and gardening in the overgrown gardens of women unable to manage on their own because of age or illness.” Sounds pretty great. Read more about it, and see a few more pictures and a short video clip, at courant.com: “Growing Stronger: Program Cultivates People for Caring for Shrubs, Yards,” by Susan Campbell. Thanks, Benjamin!

Monday in the Park

June 9, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

What a day for a site visit! Stopped by Hope Lodge to see Henry Domke’s beautiful photographs installed, and to check out their terrace, visible from all inside public spaces, where they plan to install a healing garden. More research than ever now about the importance of views of nature – real and in images – for people’s well-being. I haven’t blogged about the new HERD (Health Environments Research & Design Journal) issue yet, but Henry has, in his awesome Healthcare Fine Art blog, where you can find all kinds of good information on Evidence-Based Design (EBD).

New York City was sweltering in the high 90s, but these alliums at Madison Square Garden looked as cool and perky as ever. I was amazed at how many people chose to be outside (in the shade, or playing under the fountain if you were lucky enough to be a kid in the playground) on such a brutal day. The park was packed. Just goes to show, especially in NYC where access to nature is limited, people will take it whenever they can.

Hot Off the Press: ASLA Healthcare and Therapeutic Design Newsletter

June 6, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

The ASLA Healthcare and Therapeutic Design Professional Practice Network is pretty much the closest thing we have right now to a national organization for outdoor healthcare design.

They’ve just released the new newsletter, and it’s a good one: http://host.asla.org/groups/tgdpigroup/HTD08.pdf. You can access all of the newsletters on the HTD PPN site: http://host.asla.org/groups/tgdpigroup/newsletter.htm.

I hope to go into more detail about some of the articles in the future, but here are some highlights:

The DreamTree Project, a garden for at-risk homeless youth in New Mexico;
Notes from the 2007 HTD PPN Field Session, in which newsletter editor Sally Shute interviews event organizers Jack Carman and P. Annie Kirk;
Book review of Susan Rodiek and Benyamin Schwarz’s new book The Role of the Outdoors in Residential Environments for the Aging;
An article on Sharon’s Sensory Garden, a garden for the visually and physically impaired in Mendon, NY;
An article about the Firefighters Tree Living Memorial at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Ferns Unfurling

May 27, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

There is something irrefutably life-affirming about spring. We’re well into it now, but a couple weeks ago at Stonecrop Gardens, evidence of spring’s emergence (and winter’s retreat! hurrah!) was everywhere. Ferns unfurling, hostas uncurling, tulips laughing out loud.

My great-aunt, who is 92 and was visiting from Atlanta, braved the chilly day to admire our northeast flora. She is lucky to live in a CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community) that has lovely gardens, an evenly paved path that winds around a pond (four times around the pond is a mile, and she walks it almost every day), and access to the trails at Stone Mountain. They also have a greenhouse and a few raised beds that always have a waiting list. Some residents plant flowers, others herbs and vegetables. A year ago I helped her plant perennials that she could use as cut flowers, and she reports that they are all alive and well, providing plenty of blooms for her vases or to share with friends. It’s a great model; alas, like many CCRCs, they don’t have a website that I can refer you to. Do they think that elders and their children don’t use the web, or what? Lots of other other good examples, though. Will post some in the future.

Garden for People with Dementia Wins Gold at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

May 25, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

The Bupa Garden, a garden for people with dementia, has won a gold medal at this year’s Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show in London. For those of us not in the know, Bupa is “the major UK health insurance company,” according to my UK information source.

Here’s part of the Bupa Garden blurb:

“The Bupa Garden was inspired by Bupa’s global commitment to creating garden sanctuaries for care home residents…A key element of the garden is the use of features that make it particularly appropriate for care home residents who have dementia. The garden’s main focus is a large spherical sculpture of textured concrete, which symbolises the organisation’s global values. The garden also contains a soothing water feature, and the paths and planting schemes embrace the needs of people with dementia.”

Though the website states that many of the plants used were chosen for their medicinal or sensory qualities, I was slightly disappointed that the accompanying plant list gives only Latin names, with no explanation of which plants were chosen for which function.

If you’re in the UK, you can view the BBC’s coverage of this garden, also on the above link.

Once the show is over, the garden gets relocated to a care home somewhere in the UK.

Thanks, Nedra W., for the information!

Agave at the Huntington

May 20, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

I took this photograph at the Huntington Library Botanical Garden in March, when I was in L.A. for my lecture at Cal Poly Pomona. Agave is such a beautiful plant, one that I don’t get to use in New York. I love its strength and grace, its architectural structure, and the way it both absorbs and reflects sunlight. If you haven’t been to the Huntington, go! I first went in 1998 and it made such an impression that I had to go back on my one free day in L.A. Their new Chinese garden is stunning; on the Sunday that I visited, it was packed with people of all ages and nationalities, exploring and enjoying. My very broad definition of a Landscape for Health is any outdoor space that facilitates health and well-being for its users. In this case, the Huntington would definitely qualify!

Garden of Hope and Courage

May 14, 2008 | by Naomi Sachs

Thanks to Amy Lane at the Garden of Hope and Courage for submitting this garden for the Therapeutic Landscapes Database Gardens page. This healing garden in Naples, FL is located on the Downtown Naples Hospital Campus, and was built in honor of Jan Emfield, who died after a long battle with breast cancer. “By blending water, plants, sculpture and the natural topography of the earth into a therapeutic retreat, the garden will offer patients a chance to reduce their negative emotions and stress. Its purpose is to inspire hope and courage; two necessary ingredients in the fight against cancer and all illness.”