Healing Garden « Therapeutic Landscapes Network

“My Garden Saved My Life.”

June 24, 2010 | by Naomi Sachs

Image courtesy of Henry Domke, www.henrydomke.com

This is a really sweet sweet idea. Readers were asked to submit a paragraph about how “my garden saved my life,” with an accompanying image. Here are two excerpts:

In Tune with Nature
For me, it is simply the age-old connection to the earth itself. To dig in the ground, to watch new life spring forth, to reap the rewards of beautiful plants, flowers, maybe some edible fruits, vegetables, or herbs … that is all so enriching. And time spent in my garden is time spent away from every stressful thing in my life. I don’t think of it as me being in control of anything … I think of it as me being a PART of it all. Part of the earth, part of the plants, part of the seasons. Just in tune with nature, through and through.

Battling Breast Cancer
During my recent treatment for breast cancer, being in my garden helped me immensely. Although I couldn’t do much, just being outside and taking in the flowers, vegetables and all of the critters that go with a garden made me feel better. It also helped me not to feel sorry for myself and like I was accomplishing something, even if I just planted a couple of seeds that day.

Link to iVillage here to see all 15 slides. I’m sorry about all the annoying ads. Still, if you can work around those, it’s quite a nice post.

There’s also an essay titled “The Garden Saved My Life” by Barbara Blossom Ashmun, published in the anthology The Ultimate Gardener. Here’s the author’s blog post about it.

And what about you, dear reader? If you were asked the same question, what would your answer be? We’d love to hear from you, and others probably would, too! Leave a comment and let’s see what we have to say.

Planting the Healing Garden: The Quiet Joys of Early Spring

March 31, 2010 | by Naomi Sachs

And now it is April. I was walking in a friend’s garden this afternoon and everywhere we turned, things were budding and leafing out. He kept saying “It’s all happening!” And it truly is. Actually, it has been for a little while now, but it a quiet sort of way.

I never used to like March. Growing up in northeastern Connecticut, March always felt much more like the last, grey, dreary, incredibly long month of winter rather than the first month of spring. When I lived in Berkeley during graduate school, March was lovely, of course. The incessant winter rains finally ceased, and the Ceanothus and rosemary bloomed, and the world felt right again. Then I moved to Santa Fe, NM, where March meant fierce winds that blew the ever-present dust into every nook and cranny of everything. And then I moved to the Hudson Valley. And after five years of thinking that I hated March (and very early April), I finally this year have come to realize that it’s actually one of my favorite times.

And here is why: March (or very early spring, really, which is March where I live) is about discovery. Before spring really takes off and everything bursts forth with verdant new growth and loud, colorful flowers like some tacky prom fashion show, we see spring’s emergence more slowly and subtly. Each new discovery is cause for celebration, a light at the end of winter’s tunnel. One day I see yellow on the fat Forsythia buds. The next day, they began to open, and I also notice the first new soft green growth of lady’s mantle pushing up through the soil amidst last fall’s leaves. The next day, I see the downy buds of the service berries, and every day they get bigger and bigger and soon they will open into delicate white flowers which will last only a week or two before the branches’ bright leaves begin to emerge.

To me, this time of year feels like falling in love. There is so much to discover, and it’s all wonderful. As in, I walk around filled with wonder and delight, like my “it’s all happening!” friend.

So if you can appreciate these small joys, before spring kicks into overdrive, please share them with others. Take a walk with your children and point out the little treasures that are emerging each day. Instill in them your love of nature so that they will become stewards for the next generation. Walk in the garden, or even just gaze out the window, with your mother or grandmother or the old man who lives next door and see what you both can see. Older eyes don’t always catch the small things, but they will appreciate the new life if it’s pointed out to them. I promise you, your world, and theirs, will feel all the richer and more meaningful for it. And that’s what a “healing garden” is all about.

“Gardens for Recovery” – Excellent article from AHS’ The American Gardener

March 19, 2010 | by Naomi Sachs

Witch hazel ‘Arnold’s Promise’ – spring is on the way!

I hope everyone has been having a good Horticultural Therapy Week. Here in the Hudson Valley, we have had unseasonably warm temperatures and we’re seeing encouraging signs of spring. Light at the end of winter’s tunnel!

My hope of posting notes from last week’s talk at the Horticultural Society of New York on linking medical and social science research to HT are not going to get realized this week. Next week, perhaps.

So instead, I am sharing with you an excellent article from the November/December 2009 issue of The American Gardener, the magazine published by the American Horticultural Society. “Gardens for Recovery,” by Doreen Howard, focuses primarily on the Oregon Burn Center Garden at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, OR* and the Rosecrance Serenity Garden in Rockford, IL. The TLN gets a mention, too. Howard gives some moving examples of how these gardens, and therapy in the gardens, help patients and family members heal. In addition, she lists “five primary design guidelines for any healing garden, including ones for home and backyards.” I know it’s not always easy to take time to read an article, but in this case, it’s worth it, trust me!

Many thanks to the American Horticultural Society and Doreen Howard for permission to link to this article; these articles are usually only available to AHS members, but they made an exception for the TLN Blog, knowing that others would truly benefit from the information.

Oregon Burn Center at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center

Rosecrance Serenity Garden, Rockford, IL

Watching the Birds – Connecting with Nature in Winter, Part III

January 30, 2010 | by Naomi Sachs

Photo courtesy of Kelly Riccetti at Red and the Peanut

Continuing our series on “Surviving the Winter by Staying Connected to Nature,” today’s post is about enjoying nature from inside, and in particular, feeding and watching the birds.

It’s true that one of the keys to making it through the winter is getting outside (more on that in the next post). But let’s face it: Even if we do venture forth, we’re probably not going to be out very long. So what is a “healing garden” in winter? One that we can gaze upon and enjoy from indoors. And what better way to hold our attention than watching the birds? It’s certainly been keeping me going this winter. This is the first year that I’ve noticed white-breasted nuthatches flitting back and forth from the bird feeder to the white oak. And in addition to the usual sparrows, crows, dark-eyed juncos, starlings, and cardinals, we seem to have more chickadees and tufted titmice (titmouses?) this year as well. Such a delight!

I want to especially encourage nurses, administrators, volunteers and family members who care for seniors to do more to attract birds. Place bird feeders and baths (you can even buy heated ones) outside of private and community windows. Watching, identifying, and counting birds can bring a great deal of meaning (and social interaction) into people’s lives. Bird-watching is an excellent antidote to the common problems of boredom, loneliness, and isolation.

No matter what your age, here are some resources to get you started. There are two primary ways to attract birds to the garden. First, plant things that birds are attracted to for food and habitat. The following books and websites will help you choose what to plant and how to keep a garden that’s bird-friendly throughout the year:

A nice article about How to Grow Your Own Bird Seed in the Garden.
You can even plant specific things to attract specific birds. For example, goldfinches are drawn to Echinacea (purple coneflower), black-eyed Susans, Zinnias, sunflowers, and especially thistle – not only for the food but for the downy fibers used to line their nests (thanks to my new favorite blog Red and the Peanut for this info). Another example: Bluebirds loooove winterberry (Ilex verticillata).
National Audubon Society’s book The Bird Garden: A Comprehensive Guide to Attracting Birds to Your Backyard Throughout the Year.
National Wildlife Federation’s book Attracting Birds, Butterflies & Backyard Wildlife and also their Garden for Wildlife page.
Rodale Organic Gardening’s Attracting Birds to Your Backyard.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds page.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s book The Wildlife Gardener’s Guide, and their website Inviting Wildlife Into Your Winter Garden.
The U.K.’s Wildlife Gardener.
On the “macro” level, think about attracting not just the birds, but the critters that attract the birds. Insects, in general, provide a lot more nutrition than seed. Doug Tallamy’s Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants explains how this works and why we should care.
Here are some of Tallamy’s top recommendations of both woody and herbaceous plants that support the butterflies and moths that feed the birds and keep our ecosystem healthy.
I also highly recommend Bill Cullina’s list of Biodiversity All-Stars – the plants that support more than one species at a time – on the New England Wild Flower Society website. His list of top ten includes oak, crabapple, serviceberry, and red cedar.
And finally, Carole Brown’s Choosing the Best Plants for Your Ecosystem Garden. Ecosystem Garden is a garden that supports the entire ecosystem, sustainably, rather than just us, or one type of animal or crop. You can read the full explanation here.

Second to providing natural food and habitat in your garden, supplement with birdfeeders and bird baths. The National Bird-Feeding Society is a great place to start. Learn about bird feed and feeder preference; how to prevent disease at bird feeders; best backyard bird-feeding practices, and more. And many of the websites listed above also provide information about this aspect of backyard bird-care as well.

All of these resources, plus a few more, are on the Therapeutic Landscapes Network’s Sensory & Wildlife Plants page. Stop on by, and if you have other recommendations, let us know.

Photo by Henry Domke, www.henrydomke.com

Photo courtesy of Henry Domke

Resolve to Make Your Yard/Garden/Park a Restorative Space

December 30, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

Manitoga, Russel Wright’s garden. Photo by Naomi Sachs

Okay, I give in. Lots of websites are posting suggestions for resolutions; I might as well jump on the New Year’s Resolutions Bandwagon with my own recommendations. Not surprisingly, these have to do with creating landscapes that facilitate health and well-being. So, my 2010 resolution suggestion:

Resolve to create restorative outdoor space for yourself, your family, and even your community.

Maybe it’s a space on your property – your deck, your yard, your garden – that could be better utilized to be a healing space. Allow yourself to dream about what would make that space more special, more conducive to you connecting with nature rather than just storing the grill and fretting about the unmowed lawn.

And perhaps you can take that inspiration out into the community as well: Maybe there’s an underused park, or an empty lot in in your neighborhood that could be transformed into a green space that everyone could enjoy and benefit from. Or perhaps a local school, or a nursing home, or community center has a bit of open space that could be transformed into a green haven.

Sometimes the idea of creating a restorative space is daunting, because we imagine that we don’t have the funds, or the design skills, or the knowledge to make it happen. I can assure you that the most important ingredient is resolve – a commitment to making things better. Once you’ve got that, then the rest will fall into place. And the Therapeutic Landscapes Network can help with the rest. Happy New Year!

Oh, and if you’re wondering why the spacing is so weird on this post, the answer is: I don’t know. That’s why my resolution is to finally switch to WordPress in 2010.

Top Ten Gift Books for Healing Garden Inspiration

December 16, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

I realize I’m a little late getting to this, but here are some suggestions for people who are still looking for last-minute gifts (in addition to things from the TLN store, of course!).

If you’re a gardener like me and you live somewhere cold where gardening in winter isn’t much of an option, then one of your favorite pastimes is sitting by the fire, poring over gardening books and dreaming of spring. And if you’re a designer, what better way to get your clients excited about doing more than planting shrubs in front of their house’s foundation?

These are all books that I own and refer to again and again for inspiration when designing and consulting about healing gardens (including my own). There are more academic and educational books out there, one of which I recommended in the last blog post, and many more of which are listed on the TLN’s References page. We’re working on an “If You Only Read Five” page (still in development) that will list books in categories (inspiration, evidence-based design, horticultural therapy, specific populations, etc.), so stay tuned for that.

These ten books are sure to inspire you, or those receiving them as gifts, to create spaces that are truly nurturing to body and soul. And as a bonus, when you buy from any of the links on this post, you’ll be nurturing the Therapeutic Landscpaes Network, too. Through the Amazon Associates program, the TLN receives a percentage of each book sale. Of course, if you can find the books locally, all the better. But if you must order by mail, please shop through this post! Just click on the title to link to Amazon.com. So, here we go. My top ten books for healing garden inspiration:

Peaceful Gardens: transform your garden into a haven of calm and tranquillity by Stephanie Donaldson – A very sweet little book (it really is little, measuring 5.5 x 6.5″) with hundreds of beautiful photographs and great ideas. I like the mixture of garden styles in this book – everything from traditional cottage-type gardens to wild meadows to very modern, spare, contemplative spaces.

The Healing Garden: A Natural Haven for Body, Senses and Spirit by Sue Minter – This was one of my first “healing gardens” books. I really like Minter’s first chapter, “The Healing Arts: A marriage of botany and medicine” for its overview of the history of healing gardens and the therapeutic use of plants and nature. In general, her scope is broad, touching on a lot of aspects of healing gardens, from herbs and organic vegetables to Feng Shui and color theory. A delightful buffet for those who like a little bit of everything. There’s another book by Sue Minter called The Healing Garden: A Practical Guide for Physical & Emotional Well-Being. I’m not sure how it differs from the one above, and I’m sorry to say I don’t have it…yet.

The Healing Garden: Gardening for the Mind, Body and Soul by Gay Search – After a short overview, Search delves into more detail with herbs, both culinary and medicinal; flowers, especially as used for color and scent; water in the garden; and low-allergen gardens. She includes some good plant lists and suggestions for each category, and even a few garden plans.

The Healing Garden: Natural Healing for the Mind, Body and Soul by David Squire (I know, it’s confusing that three different books have the same main title. What are you gonna do.) – Squire, too, starts with a nice chapter that gives some historical perspective, including the Garden of Eden, Islamic gardens, monastery gardens, and tea gardens. His next chapter is something of a surprise: “Does Soil Have a Soul?” He’s got a good point here, which is that everything comes from the soil, so that had better be healthy first. I appreciate this, since nothing is more depressing – and less nurturing – than a garden that doesn’t thrive. After that, each chapter is devoted to one of the five senses: touch; scent; taste; sound; taste; and sight – color, patterns, shapes, and textures.

Sanctuary: Gardening for the Soul by Lauri Brunton and Erin Fournier – This book is all about nature and gardens as sanctuary, and how to find and create sanctuary in your life. I have to say, though I love all of my book-children equally, there’s something particularly inspiring about this one. Perhaps because it’s more than just a garden how-to book, or perhaps because the photos are just so darn scrumptious. As another indication that this is something special, here are the chapter titles: Peace; Change; Passion; Mystery; and Contemplation. It’s one of the few books, along with Derek Jarman’s Garden (below) that calls attention to and embraces death as a part of the garden’s cycle. There’s also a nice section on labyrinths at the end of the book.

A Child’s Garden: 60 Ideas to Make Any Garden Come Alive for Children by Molly Dannenmaier – Wonderful ideas for creating and embellishing spaces that nurture young people. A must-have if you’ve got kids or clients with kids. Or just for the kid in you.

Healing Gardens by Romy Rawlings – I’d say that “holistic gardening” is the main thrust of this book – that to create a garden that is healing for us, we must create a healthy garden. In other words, be good to the earth and she will reward you. After an overview of this concept, Rawlings focuses on the following topics: Feng Shui (a whole chapter, looking at the various schools); color therapy; herbalism, with both culinary and medicinal herbs; aromatherapy; and styles of gardens, including meditation and Zen.

Gardens for the Soul: Designing Outdoor Spaces Using Ancient Symbols, Healing Plants and Feng Shui by Pamela Woods – This book (not surprising, given the title) delves a little more into the spiritual. Woods, who is a dowser as well as an artist and landscape designer, begins with a chapter on garden energy. The next chapter focuses on ancient symbols like labyrinths, medicine wheels, mandalas, and spirals. Woods also talks about how using universal patterns can make us feel more connected to nature the earth.

Spiritual Gardening: Creating Sacred Space Outdoors

by Peg Streep – This book, more than any of the others, is about creating sacred space and a place where you connect with your spirit, or soul, though nature. Streep touches on myriad different spiritual gardens, including Zen, Gaia, Celtic, and Biblical, and several different methods of connecting with nature including aromatherapy, Feng Shui, and labyrinths. For those who are more spiritual or even religious, this book more than the other ten will speak to you. But even if you’re not, it’s a good pithy read with lots of great pictures and quotes.

Derek Jarman’s Garden by Derek Jarman – It’s funny how many of the above-listed books refer to Derek Jarman’s garden and have at least one picture of it from this book. It’s one of my personal favorites, too. Not your garden-variety garden book, but truly beautiful, inspiring. and life-affirming.

Did I miss any? Leave a comment and let me know! Always looking for more great inspiration books to add to the list…and to my bookshelf!

“Defiant Gardens” and Other Resources for Veterans

November 11, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

Image courtesy of Gardening Leave

For this post, on Veterans Day in the United States, I’d like to share some information about resources specifically for veterans.

While many veterans returning home from war have to deal with physical trauma, almost all suffer from emotional trauma and strain. On the extreme end is posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can be debilitating for not just the individual veterans but for their entire family and community. More and more research has been coming out about gardening, exposure to nature in a safe setting, and horticultural therapy as effective tools for fighting PTSD and other stress-related problems.

Here are some resources about work that is being done around this issue:
Gardening Leave (www.gardeningleave.org) is a UK charity, founded by Anna Baker Cresswell, for ex-Servicemen and women with PTSD and other mental health troubles. The goal is to combat stress through horticultural therapy activities – growing fruit and vegetables – in a walled garden setting, where people feel safe and protected. The program has been developed in accordance with plans by Combat Stress (Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society).

The Acer Institute, founded and directed by P. Annie Kirk, teamed up with the ASLA Healthcare and Therapeutic Design Professional Practice Network in 2005 to host a day-long conference, “Therapeutic Garden Design and Veterans Affairs: Preparing for Future Needs” at the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center. You can download most of the presentations, see photos and movies, and even request the CD, on which all of the information is compiled, from Acer’s website. Since that conference, Annie has been creating a list of therapeutic (healing) gardens at VA Facilities. You can access this list from Acer website’s VA healthcare page (you just have to fill out a short form first). You can also add to the list, helping Acer to keep building this knowledge base.

Another great resource is the website Defiant Gardens, which came from Kenneth Helphand‘s book by the same name. I am so impressed with Helphand’s scholarship, and my admiration goes beyond his consistently good research and writing. In this case, it’s truly inspiring.

What are “defiant gardens?” They are, in the words of the author, “…gardens created in extreme or difficult environmental, social, political, economic, or cultural conditions. These gardens represent adaptation to challenging circumstances, but they can also be viewed from other dimensions as sites of assertion and affirmation.” Helphand’s book focuses on “Trench Gardens” on the Western Front in WWI, “Ghetto Gardens” in Nazi Europe, “Barbed-Wire Gardens” created by allied prisoners of war and civilian internees in Europe and Asia in the World Wars, gardens in Japanese internment camps in the United States during WWII, and gardens following WWII.

What I appreciate most about the website is that it includes information from the book, but also keeps going from there, encompassing prison gardens, community gardens, and gardens in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and even Guantanamo. The most recent post is the text from a New York Times article on gardens in Afghanistan.
And here’s another really nice post by my fellow landscape architecture and blogger colleague Rochelle Greayer: “I Gardened for My Life: The Defiant Gardens of POWs on Veterans Day.” Thanks for the mention, Rochelle. Always happy to inspire:)
And finally, here’s a link from the Farmer-Veteran Coalition (Farmers helping veterans, veterans helping farmers”) to a post about Nadia McAffrey, a Gold Star Mother (she lost her son in the Iraq war) who founded Veterans Village “to provide compassionate healing and living environments for returning veterans damaged by their war experience.” They are expanding to sites in Minnesota and New York, “where land is available for farming and gardening – important components for both the healing and the livelihood for the communities.” Thanks so much to Sharon for these links!

Green Walls for Healing Gardens

November 9, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

Patrick Blanc's 'Mur Vegetal' in Paris -Quai Branly

One of the key elements of a healing garden – a garden designed to facilitate and even improve people’s health and well-being – is a high ration of plant material (“softscape”) to paving, walls, stairs, etc. (“hardscape”). More plants, less paving.

And especially if we’re talking about hospitals and other healthcare facilities, which is where healing gardens are needed most, people like a lot of softness and greenery to balance out the hard, sterile surfaces indoors. People also prefer a feeling of enclosure – it makes them feel safe and secure, and can delineate spaces for private reflection and conversation.

So, what better design element than a green, living wall? Patrick Blanc made a big splash with his (absolutely gorgeous) vertical gardens a few years ago, and since then, the market for green walls has exploded. I’ve been surprised at how slowly it’s catching on in the healthcare environment. Seriously, wouldn’t it be great if all of the hospitals and clinics and hospices and nursing homes had soft, green, living vertical surfaces instead of concrete walls and vinyl fences and strange partitions that don’t really work in delineating space?

Image courtesy Annabel Harrold from Echo Studio's post on Blanc

Another plus about vertical gardens: They are easily accessible to just about everyone. Whether you’re standing on two feet or wheeling in a wheelchair or a stroller, the plants are at your height where you can reach out to touch and smell, or even to garden in. What a fantastic tool for horticultural therapists!

Here’s an example of a custom-designed wall by Hitchcock Design Group for a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) in Hyde Park, Chicago:

Hitchcock Design Group green wall. Photo by Naomi Sachs

If you’re interested in the confluence of plants and architecture, definitely check out Jason King’s blog Veg.itecture (their tagline is “investigating green architecture.”).

And if you know of any healthcare facilities with vertical green walls – fixed or freestanding – please leave a comment. We’re trying to build a list for the Therapeutic Landscapes Network.

Here’s one last image, from a new company called Woolly Pocket Garden Company. Check out their blog. I especially like the posts about the Edible Staircase and the Edible Schoolyard, two programs with kids in Los Angeles schools.

Image courtesy of Woolly Pockets

Morton Arboretum’s New Children’s Garden

October 12, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

Image courtesy of LandscapeOnline.com

The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL (25 miles west of Chicago) has just opened a new Children’s Garden, and it’s getting rave reviews, including this one by Leslie McGuire for LandscapeOnline.com, “The Best Backyard in the World.”

Designed by Herb Schaal of EDAW Fort Collins, the four-acre garden is intended to “spark children’s curiosity about the natural world” in a safe place that “combines different experiences that challenge physical, cognitive, and emotional development in delightful ways while teaching all about natural systems.”

McGuire goes into depth with descriptions of the various areas of the garden, including Backyard Discovery Gardens, Tree Finder Grove, Kid’s Tree Walk, Adventure Woods, and the Central Plaza. It’s a good read, with lots of pictures to spark the imagination.

Children’s gardens in arboreta, botanical gardens, and other parks are often so creative. Unlike your average playground with a bunch of plastic equipment on some rubber surface, these children’s gardens are all about making discovery and learning full of fun, wonder, and delight. I just visited the one at the Huntington Gardens and was so impressed. I’ll be blogging about that soon. I only wish that that same imagination could be employed more often in children’s gardens in healthcare facilities. Why is it not? Do we lack the budget? Are we scared about litigation? Are we creating generic “healing gardens” that are designed as contemplative spaces instead of as places where kids can run around, play, be distracted, and blow off steam? What do you think, dear reader? Also, if you have a favorite children’s garden, in a healthcare facility or not, please share by leaving a comment; we’ll add it to our growing list on the (new improved!) Therapeutic Landscapes Network website.

Image courtesy of LandscapeOnline.com

Live! Therapeutic Landscapes Network Launches New Site, HealingLandscapes.org

September 29, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

Our Echinacea “mascot” image, courtesy of Henry Domke

The Therapeutic Landscapes Network is pleased to announce the launch of our new website.

Same url, HealingLandscapes.org, same great content (actually we’ve added more), and many new features, including:

Search function within the site;
Blog and site under one virtual roof;
Larger, richer images, with more on the way;
Updated Designers and Consultants Directory with a map for geographic as well as alphabetical search (contact us if you’d like to be added to our Directory);
Expanded Therapeutic Gardens Directory (map coming soon, too);
Sponsors who help fund the work that we do (individual donations are also most welcome);
Sound! Click on “play birdsong audio” on the left-hand side of the home page;
And coming soon, a Network Forum within the site for members to share information and ideas.

And that’s just the beginning. We’re pretty happy with our new site, and we hope you will be, too. Take a spin around, and let us know what you think.

Many thanks to our “early adopter” Sponsors Landscape Forms, Imagine Childhood, and Lee Anne White Photography. Contact us if you would like to become one of our Wonderful Sponsors.

And many thanks to Wayne William Creative for their beautiful design and to Randy Caruso for his technical magicianship. Please visit our Credits and Thanks page to see all of the talented people who helped us get off the ground.

The Therapeutic Landscapes Network is the leading resource for information, education, and inspiration about healing gardens, restorative landscapes, and other green spaces that promote health and well-being. We are a knowledge base and gathering space for a global community of designers, health and human service providers, scholars, gardeners, and nature enthusiasts. Connecting people with information…people…nature.