Gardening and Health

Over the past three columns we've heard from three individuals who find gardening important in their lives although they have to compensate for disabilities. Plants serve to add beauty to our homes and yards. They also nurture us while we nurture them. If you would like to study this topic a bit further, I'd like to recommend the following book.

The Role of Horticulture in Human Well-Being and Social Development was published by Timber Press. The editor for the book was Diane Relf. Published in 1992, this book is a compilation of a national symposium with the same title held in April of 1990 in Arlington, Virginia. Although the book is written from the professional standpoint, I believe it has made an important contribution in the field of horticulture therapy. It is divided into eight sevtions titled as follows. Each section has several chapters and ends with abstracts of research papers.

Section I: Plants and Human Culture Section II: Plants and the Community Section III: Plants and the Individual Section IV: Developing a Conceptual Framework Section V: Exploring a Specific Application: Horticulture Therapy Section VI: Research Implementation Section VII: A Look at the Future: Developing a Research Initiative Section VIII: Appendixes

As you may gather, this is a book intended primarily for professional therapists, educators, and researchers. I enjoyed the book as a whole since I love research. It is well written and relatively easy to understand if you have the terminology for understanding research reports. However, I found one chapter of particular significance to everyone. Gardening can improve our health--both physically and mentally.

Chapter 28: Prescribing Health Benefits Through Horticultural Activities

This chapter includes an important summary of how horticulture meets some very basic human needs. This information was developed primarily from using horticulture with clients in mental institutions. I believe the findings are easily generalized to any person with a mental, physical or emotional disability

Gardening involves daily routines--this helps clients to understand the importance of routines in their own lives.

Gardening helps the person focus on tasks.

Gardening is enjoyable (at least for most of us!).

Gardening improves frustration and work tolerance. You start with simple tasks and work to more difficult ones as you experience success.

Many gardening tasks involve cooperation with others and the social benefits of chatting about gardening. (This may explain the rise of garden clubs. We simply like to talk about our gardens.)

Plants are non-threatening to people (except for thistles and other thorny plants). This may help people experiencing difficulties with aggressive behavior to relax.

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