We use 'garden therapy' as a shorthand term for therapeutic horticulture. Gardens and plants have a long history of being associated with healing. And, how we as humans respond to the natural environment dates all the way back to our earliest experiences as hunter gatherers. At Rugged Weeds, we use gardening to connect the ties we have as humans with nature to for improved health, working in small groups.
Medical value
Societies have used plants for their medicinal value since ancient times. Drugs like aspirin were originally derived from the salicyclic acid in plants. In the middle ages in Europe, herbalists wrote medical guides on the use of plants. Oxford University established botanical gardens in the 1600s to strengthen the medical faculty. And in China, medical writing and herbal traditions go back even further to the Zhou dynasty, 3,000 years ago.
In culture
Culturally, plants have played important roles in society. At the most trivial level, we celebrate with a tree at Christmas and carve a pumpkin for Halloween. Petals are thrown at weddings and a corsage worn to the prom. But as far back as Neanderthal times, flowers and seeds were buried with human remains for the next life. In our grief groups, planting new plants gives hope for tomorrow and the seasons have a wisdom that words don't offer.
Wired for nature
The human sciences have researched how as humans we succeeded as a species because of how we paid attention to our natural surroundings. The plants and trees shaped their decisions on food, shelter, and survival. Although modern man is surrounded by concrete, the intuition learned at a cellular level over millenia still affects us today.
Psychological research has found we feel less stressed when viewing scenes of green nature than urban settings of buildings, trees and traffic. A walk in the woods can reduce blood pressure and provide a sense of peace. These studies have shown that positive human responses occur across social, economic, and cultural boundaries.
Therapeutic horticulture
We use gardening as a vehicle to help the groups with which we work to learn skills that they can then use on their own journeys for improved mental and physical health. Gardening gets us bending and moving. Tasks like planting seeds and sticking cuttings are simple, yet with the right context, can teach mindfulness. We work with our groups to help them grow and our garden is our partner in this process.
Workshops will be led by Norman Smit, a keen gardener who spent a large part of his youth growing up on a farm in South Africa, has a graduate degree, and horticultural therapy qualifications from NC State University.
