Events

Nature and Well-Being: Lecture series at the Bloedel Reserve

Reflecting pool, Bloedel Reserve. Photo by Henry Domke, http://henrydomke.com

Reflecting pool, Bloedel Reserve. Photo by Henry Domke, www.henrydomke.com

During June, Puget Sound’s Bloedel Reserve will put the spotlight on nature and well-being by hosting a series of lectures. Throughout the month, experts from diverse disciplines will explore the unique  relationship between nature and humans, and the healing and therapeutic qualities of landscapes and gardens.

Our founder Prentice Bloedel was fascinated with the relationship between people and plants, often writing eloquently on the subject, as he designed the gardens and landscapes of The Reserve. In June, we are bringing together experts from many disciplines to explore the unique relationship between nature and humans, and the healing and therapeutic qualities of landscapes and gardens.

The Bloedel Reserve is a public treasure that sits on 150 acres of natural woodlands and landscaped gardens just a short ferry ride away from downtown Seattle. In addition to interconnected paths, a Japanese garden, a moss garden, and a reflection pool, visitors will find the Bloedel’s former estate home. The Reserve was created by Prentice and Virginia Bloedel who resided on the property from 1951 until 1986. A man ahead of his time, Prentice Bloedel had an abiding interest in the relationship between people and the natural world. The primary mission of The Reserve is to provide a tranquil, restorative and emotionally evocative experience of nature.

See this past Guest TLN Blog Post by Sally Schauman for more on The Bloedel Reserve as a Therapeutic Landscape.

For more information on this month’s Lecture Series, visit The Bloedel Reserve web site.  Summer hours are extended for June, July and August: Tuesday and Wednesday, 10am-4pm; Thursday through Sunday, 10am-7pm. A short description of the lecture series follow. For a complete description of the talks and other classes at The Reserve, see the summer bulletin. To register for all the lectures that range from $10 to $15 per session, call 206-842-7631, or click on the Brown Paper Tickets.

The Bloedel Reserve Lecture Series for June is as follows:

Friday, June 8 at 4:30pm
Every Step a Healing Step (lecture & guided meditative walk)
Carolyn Scott Kortge, author, The Spirited Walker & Healing Walks for Hard Times

Sunday, June 10 at 2:00pm
The Restorative Power of Plants
Patty Cassidy, RHT, Horticultural Therapist & Gardener for Legacy Health Systems, Portland

Wednesday, June 13 at 10:00am
Healing Garden Designs
Daniel Winterbottom, RLA, FASLA, professor, Landscape Architecture, University of Washington

Thursday, June 14 at 2:00pm
Landscaping for Privacy: Innovative Ways to Turn Your Outdoor Space into a Peaceful Retreat
Marty Wingate, author & garden designer

Saturday, June 16 at 4:30pm
Therapeutic Design Adaptations for the Home Garden
Mark Epstein, registered landscape architect

Sunday, June 17 at 4:30pm
Art in Nature: The Therapeutic Effects of Nature Photography-A Personal Story
Charles Needle, photographer

Tuesday, June 19 at 10:00am
Leave No Child Inside: Reconnecting Children with Nature
Martin LeBlanc, founder, Children & Nature Network; Sr. VP, Islandwood

Friday, June 29 at 7:30pm
“Echoes of Creation” (Video screening & talk)
Jan Nickman, film & television director & cinematographer

Saturday, June 30 at 3:00pm
Restoration & Celebration — The Created World Around Us (lecture & guided meditative walk)
Christie Lynk, professor of psychology, Seattle University

Community Engagement & the Built Environment conference

Head Start Preschool, Seattle, WA                    Photo by Filiz Satir

Head Start Preschool Play Yard, Seattle, WA. Photo by Filiz Satir

Community Built Association Conference: May 30-June 2, 2012

The Community Built Association (CBA) will hold its annual conference in Portland, OR, May 30 – June 2. The interdisciplinary gathering is open to all those interested in community engagement through the lenses of art, play, nature, and the built environment.  The conference features presentations and panel discussions related to play environments, gardens and green spaces, public art, and community-engaged architecture. The conference at Portland’s Tabor Space, 5441 S.E. Belmont Street will  include:

  • Presentations and discussions from leaders in the field of community-based practice;
  • Hands-on workshops that will engage participants’ creativity while they contribute something of lasting value to the local community;
  • Tours of local “place-making” sites around Portland, where volunteers have shaped community spaces with their own hands over time; and
  • Informal networking and sharing sessions with inspirational community builders from Portland and around the country.

Artists, architects, builders, organizers, gardeners, planners, and others are all welcome. To learn more and register for the conference, visit the CBA Web site: http://communitybuilt.org/conference/portland_2012.

 

Portland Memory Garden celebrates 10 years

Wild ginger and ferns. Photo by Henry Domke, www.henrydomke.com

Photo by Henry Domke, www.henrydomke.com

Portland Memory Garden Founders Day Weekend, June 2-3, 2012

In celebration of the Portland Memory Garden’s 10-year Anniversary, the Friends of the Portland Memory Garden will sponsor an educational panel discussion at Good Samaritan Hospital, Saturday, June 2 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.  Susan Rodiek, Associate Director of the Center for Health Systems & Design at Texas A&M University, will present the keynote address.

The Friends also plan a “garden” open house, June 3, noon to 3 p.m. The event will include guided tours, free nature crafts, music, and refreshments. The seminar and garden celebration are open to the public, though registration is required for the Saturday seminar. All seminar proceeds will go to support annual maintenance of the Portland  Memory Garden, located off S.E. Powell at 104th Avenue in Ed Benedict Park.

The garden is designed to meet the special needs of those with memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, and to provide respite for their caregivers. The garden is one of eight “memory gardens” in the U.S., and one of only two built on public land.

For more information contact Brian Bainnson at 503-256-8955 or visit www.portlandmemorygarden.org/PMG/Events.

Recruiting Garden Volunteers: If you’d like to get your hands dirty in the Memory Garden they have two teams that meet on the first and third Saturday of every month, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Contact Patty Cassidy (1st Saturday) 503-239-9174 and Julie Brown (3rd Saturday) 503-367-5188.

Vince Healy talk, “Sensory Engagement and ‘Sense of Place'”

Strolling Pond Garden photo by Laura Davidson, courtesy of the Portland Japanese Garden

Strolling Pond Garden photo by Laura Davidson, courtesy of the Portland Japanese Garden

Vince Healy will be speaking at the Portland Japanese Garden at the end of this month on “Healing Nature: Sensory Engagement and “Sense of Place.” He will be giving two talks, one for Health Care and Human Services Professionals (on 6/29) and one for members of the general public (on 6/30).

The restorative qualities of nature are evident perhaps nowhere more beautifully in Portland than in the tranquil setting of the Portland Japanese Garden. This year the Garden begins to explore its role as a vehicle of restorative therapies through a special evening seminar on “Healing Nature: Sensory Engagement and “Sense of Place” with noted expert Vince Healy, who will define “healing” and “restorative” gardens, and discuss the many ways in which multi-sensory experience in garden settings can benefit healing.

Mr. Healy holds a BFA from the University of California, Irvine, an MFA from UCLA, and was a Loeb Fellow at The Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He is the author of several journal articles and has counseled authors writing books on the healingproperties of garden environments. He has been a consultant on garden projects for the Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Downey, CA, and the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, CA. He worked closely with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross M.D. to assess her property in Virginia and generate ideas for the creation of a garden at her training center for health practitioners. He participated in the design collaboration of the Elizabeth and Nona Evans Restorative Garden at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. He has lectured and taught classes and seminars at Harvard University, UCLA, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana, and the University of Virginia. He was also a final keynote speaker at the ASLA Centennial Conference.

Health Care and Human Services Professionals seminar
Wednesday, June 29, 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Seminar includes a lecture and a private walk-through of the Garden with Mr. Healy and
Portland Japanese Garden Curator, Sadafumi Uchiyama.
Fee: $35
Location: Pavilion, Portland Japanese Garden
611 SW Kingston Avenue, Portland, OR 97205
Reservations required, space is limited
Call (503) 542-0280

Talk for members of the general public
Thursday, June 30th,
5:30–7:30 p.m.
Fee: $10 members, $15 non-members
Location: Pavilion, Portland Japanese Garden
611 SW Kingston Avenue, Portland, OR 97205
Reservations required, space is limited
Call (503) 542-0280 or go to the Portland Japanese Garden website.

Thank you to Teresia Hazen, Horticultural Therapist and Coordinator of Gardens at Legacy Health in Portland, OR for news about this event.

Horticultural Therapy Exhibit at Philadelphia Flower Show: “Liberte, Egalite, Accessibilite”

Philadelphia Flower Show AHTA Booth. Photo by Task Force Chair Sarah Hutchin

AHTA Exhibit at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Photo by Task Force Chair Sarah Hutchin

Happening now! I wish I could go to the Philadelphia Flower Show (March 5-13) this year. But since I can’t, I can at least publish a post about it, right? Here’s a blurb from the AHTA website:

The American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA) is delighted to sponsor the Horticultural Therapy Exhibit for the 2011 Philadelphia International Flower Show. This will be the second consecutive year for a horticultural therapy exhibit in the Show. Last year, the local network group, Mid Atlantic Horticultural Therapy Network, sponsored the first exhibit, drawing in many people and winning two prestigious awards.

The exhibit, in keeping with this year’s theme “Springtime in Paris” is titled “Liberte, Egalite, Accessibilite” (Freedom, Equality, Accessibility). Featured will be a Parisian Potager showcasing ideas for recycling, sustainability, plants, and ways to garden in small spaces . The goals of the exhibit will be to educate the public about how horticultural therapy (HT) can enhance one’s well- being, teach new skills, distract from pain, reduce stress and isolation, to provide fun and meaningful work in a way that is life-affirming.

Gabriela Harvey posted this update on the TLN Facebook page:

“AHTA Exhibit at the 2011 Philadelphia Flower Show won “Best in Show” in the Non-Academic Educational Category. A special thank you to the committee and to each MAHTN and AHTA member who will man the exhibit as a volunteer. Special kudos to …Sarah Hutchins, Pam Young, Peg Schofield, Jack Carman and Martha Heinze and Carol Lukens!!! Hope I did not miss anyone?”

And Carol Hutchin, Task Force Chair, updated us on Sunday with this:

“I just heard from co-chair we have also received an additional award, a special achievement award from The Garden Club Federation of PA (education exhibit under 1,000 ft.). People have been pouring through our exhibit all yesterday and today (Sunday)! The response from attendees and several judges, who spoke to us yesterday, was very supportive and congratulatory! A very special thank you to all the committee members ( MAHTN and AHTA) who worked so diligently and well together to create the exhibit, as well as all the volunteers who are manning and maintaining it, the donors who gave us so much to make it come to life, AHTA who sponsored it this year and MAHTN who started it all by sponsoring the HT exhibit in the Flower Show last year.

Congratulations, and thank you!

Next week! Michigan Horticultural Therapy Association Conference

Fiddlehead fern. Photo by Henry Domke, http://www.henrydomke.com

Photo by Henry Domke, HenryDomke.com

National Horticultural Therapy Week is just around the corner (March 20-26), and the Michigan Horticultural Therapy Association‘s Annual Conference, “Horticultural Therapy: Connecting People & Plants” couldn’t be better timed.

Friday’s keynote address, “Nurturing the Therapeutic Relationship” will be presented by Lisa Schactman, MS, HTM, CPRP. Lisa is the Life Skills Director at CooperRiis, a healing farm community for individuals with mental illness in western North Carolina. The MHTA conference also features informative breakout sessions, book and product sales, hands-on workshops, displays, refreshments, door prizes and optional visit to the MSU Indoor/Outdoor Children’s Garden. This event is useful to anyone interested in learning how the people-plant interaction brings therapeutic change and improves well-being. Aspects of horticultural therapy can enhance occupational and recreational therapy programs, adult day services, children’s programs, school gardens and programs, community and healing gardens, corrections, hospice, medical care/mental health and rehabilitation settings.

Then on Saturday, MHTA is offering a workshop from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. entitled “Horticultural Therapy: Practical Applications.” Lisa Schactman, MS, HTM will present practical applications of nurturing therapeutic relationships. Participants will also have hands on experience in a session on adaptive tools & techniques.

Visit the Michigan HTA website, www.michiganhta.org, for more information and to register.

Stay tuned for more posts this month about horticultural therapy. Have something specific you’d like to share as a guest blogger? Let us know by leaving a comment on this post.

Upcoming talk by Topher Delaney: “Garden: An Act of Faith.”

Looks to be a good talk by garden artist Topher Delaney on Tuesday, May 4, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
This talk is NOT at Arnold Arboretum – it’s at Trinity Church.
Details below.

Here’s the blurb from the Arnold Arboretum’s newsletter:

“A garden is in essence the consequence of action. To make a garden is to invest in the future. The verb, ‘to garden,’ references physical action (and an) evocation of a faith in the future.” Artist’s statement

At the age of 39, Topher Delaney, a San Francisco-based artist and landscape designer, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Ms. Delaney made a pact with God: If she survived, she vowed she would devote her practice to helping others heal. Over the past twenty-two years, Ms. Delaney has focused on creating designs of healing gardens for hospitals and sanctuaries. She believes “gardens are sanctuaries, hallowed places of personal retreat.” Topher Delaney’s projects explore cultural interpretations of landscape architecture, site installation, and public art. Her project sites range in scale from intimate to expansive, from private residences to medical facilities to corporate rooftop gardens and large-scale public art installations. Her gardens at the Marin Cancer Center and the San Diego Children’s Hospital demonstrate the palpably healing character of her creations. Learn more by visiting her website.

Fee $20 Arboretum and Trinity members, $25 nonmember

Tickets may be purchased in person or on the phone: 617-536-0944 X225. On-line tickets www.arboretum.harvard.edu

This lecture takes place at Trinity Church, 206 Clarendon Street in Copley Square, Boston. Offered by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Trinity Church in the City of Boston.