Gardening Promotes Physical & Emotional Well Being
by Charlie Nardozzi, National Gardening Association
Any gardener will tell you that gardening is exercise. All the digging, lifting, pulling & twisting
that happens as we work in our backyard oases uses major muscle groups & helps us stay in shape.
Studies performed at Stanford University Center
for Research in Disease Prevention shows that gardening is a good form of light to moderate exercise. Depending on what activities
youre doing, 30 minutes in the garden can burn the equivalent
amount of calories as 30 minutes of light jogging.
Gardening, in the form of horticultural therapy,
has also been used for decades to help people w/physical
injuries or disabilities regain physical mobility & dexterity. Being around & working with plants can
help patients heal from emotional trauma as
well.
During National Garden Month (www.nationalgardenmonth.org), we celebrate individuals & groups who are
using gardens & plants as tools for healing.
One example is the American Horticultural Therapy
Association, (www.ahta.org), a non-profit organization devoted to supporting
professionals in field of hort therapy by providing educational programs, updates on the latest research & networking
opportunities.
Here's one story of the difference a garden
can make for someone recuperating from serious illness.
Life After Cancer
Gie Hough was a professional
landscaper who owned her own company in the Seattle area when she was struck by cancer in 1997. Due to cancer & its treatment,
she had to stop working. After a second bout w/cancer in 1998, she suffered nerve damage in her spine, lost strength in her
hands & had to use a cane to walk.
Gie went from being a fully
capable landscaper who also had beautiful gardens at her home to being disabled, having to leave her home & move into
an apartment. It was devastating for her.
It has been hard for Gie to recover from the
physical effects of cancer, but the emotional pain due to losing her gardens has been equally difficult. Her saving grace
was finding the Cancer Lifeline Center in Seattle.
This nonprofit organization provides support
groups, classes, & activities aimed at optimizing the quality of life for cancer victims & their families.
Gies Gardens
Gie enthusiastically pursued
the idea of creating gardens at the Center. In 2000, w/the help of local volunteers, college students & professors from
the University of Washington, the Center constructed 3 raised beds.
Staff & patients were involved
in the design process, which reflected the need to create a natural place for healing & communing w/nature.
From the beginning Gie drew from her years as
a landscaper to offer plant suggestions & advice. It was bittersweet, though, because she realized she could no longer
physically do the work she loved. But over time the three gardens, measuring about 3,500 square feet, became her oasis, helping
her rediscover her joy & love of plants.
The area includes The Celebration Garden, an
herb & kitchen garden near the lunch room where patients & staff can harvest fresh greens & herbs for cooking.
Theres a Reflection Garden featuring a quiet
nook enclosed w/bamboo, containing benches & even a heater for keeping warm in winter. Its a place Gie often goes to write
poetry or sketch the plants.
The Earth & Sky Garden includes a large
space w/a fountain & is planted w/annual & perennial flowers & shrubs. Theres a healing circle where people go
to paint or draw, or take workshops that Gie has sometimes facilitated.
Gie now spends hours working in these specially
designed raised beds that allow her to garden without bending over. But often she just sits & enjoys the peace. Rain or
shine, shes out there 3 to 4 times a week. The gardens center me when Im stressed. Its like a meditation for me. I can get
lost in them, Gie says. Theyve given back to me something that was lost.
Remember Me Rose Gardens
The concept for another group
of healing gardens also sprouted in the Pacific Northwest, but the gardens themselves will grow on the other side of the country.
In the weeks following the attacks
of September 11, 2001, Sue Casey of Portland, Oregon, was struggling to find a way that she could help w/the process rebuilding
& healing. Being from the City of Roses, it wasn't long before she received inspiration from the blooms that surrounded
her & "Remember Me" Rose Gardens were conceived.
Sue is spearheading this effort to plant roses
gardens at each of the 9/11 crash sites: New York, Washington, DC & Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania. Each garden will
be home to more than 3,000 roses (one for each victim of the attacks) along w/plants native to each region.
Families of victims, survivors of the tragedy, anyone who was touched by the attacks, can come to these flowering oases to
seek peace.
Volunteers helping Sue coordinate the Remember
Me Rose Gardens & several rose companies have committed to creating new rose varieties in tribute to victims & heroes
of the 9/11 attacks.
A portion of the profits from the sale of these
varieties will be dedicated to maintaining "Remember Me" Rose Gardens. 'Firefighter', a fragrant scarlet rose grown by Edmunds
Roses, is the first one available.
Whether its an individual container garden for
cancer victims or a large rose garden to help a nation heal, a garden can help restore strength to our bodies, minds &
spirits.
To learn more about Remember Me
Rose Gardens, go to the National Garden Month Web site at http://www.nationalgardenmonth.org/community/partners/rmrg.php
National Garden Month® is a registered trademark of
the National Gardening Association.
