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

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