“Where flowers degenerate man cannot live,” Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821
Gardeners are a notorious long-lived lot. Both Theophrastus of Athens and Cato the Censor, Sabine, lived to 85; Marcus Terentius Varro beat them by four years. George Russell, he of lupin fame made it to 94. Garden editor and keen plantsman William Robinson was 96 when he passed on to greener pastures while revered Gertrude Jekyll lived to celebrate her 89th birthday. In more recent times, actor James Whitmore, who died in 2009, was an enthusiastic garden for most of his 87 years.
Health science is coming to realize there may be something about gardens that promotes body and mental health. The alleged benefit are even reaching to the levels of the informed public – this past March Deborah Franklin wrote in
Scientific American on
‘Nature That Nurtures: Hospital gardens turn out to have medical benefits.’
Earlier this year, Dr. Frances Kuo spoke at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario, as part of a two-day Back to Nature workshop. Dr. Kuo is from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she directs the Landscape and Human Health Lab among other responsibilities and a keen supporter of the healing powers of nature.
Interest was aroused in the contribution of nature to health by a seminal 1984 paper in the journal Science by behavioural scientist Robert S. Ulrich a professor in the Department of Architecture and the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University. The paper, titled “View Through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery,” utilized scientific observations to document how even a simple view of a garden can influence the health of hospital patients, their need for painkillers and recovery time.
In 1999, publisher John Wiley & Sons commissioned
Healing Gardens: Therapeutic Benefits and Design Recommendations. Over 600 pages of history, theory, research, health outcomes, and advise for designers was edited by Clare Cooper Marcus and Marni Barnes, who also wrote about half of it. Over a decade later
Landscape Architect magazine noted that it was still regarded as a bible on the subject.
The George Morris Centre at the University of Guelph has reviewed literature on the subject. Amongst an impressive list were such benefits as horticultural therapy improving mind, body and spirit; promoting quicker recovery in hospitals; reducing stress and improves productivity in the workplace and schools; introducing calming effects and reducing discomfort; encourages healthy activity and passive lifestyle pursuits; reducing aggression and violence; promoting attention and concentration improvements for children; and increasing human health.
Landscape designs to encourage health is far cry from what has become the all-too-familiar square metres of paved surfaces, decks, rocks and other hard materials so beloved of landscape architects and contractors. Susan Rodiek of Texas A&M University has researched the subject in depth. She calls for 70 per cent of such designs to be “lush, layered landscapes” of shade trees, shrubs and flowers and the balance to paved areas. As we all know, gardening is not only a matter of sight, but also touch, texture, scent and even sound.
Falling water is welcome but not fountains that drip, buzz or “sound like urinals,” suggests Rodiek. She also advises against abstract sculptures that “do not sooth people who are sick or worried.” Ease of access with wide, meandering walkways and no backless benches or similar seats are other suggestions. More detail may be discovered by visiting the
Therapeutic Landscapes Networks website.
Gardens are not restricted to restoring health though. At urban Los Angeles Leo Politi Elementary School, concrete was torn out and native flora planted in its place. The plants attracted insects, which attracted birds, which attracted students, who, fascinated by the nature unfolding before them, learned so much that their science test scores rose six fold, reported the
Los Angeles Times.
In downtown Toronto, a rooftop garden featuring flowers, fountains and even a fishpond provides a place for homeless youth to lie back and relax. Located on the roof of the Covenant House McGill Street building near Yonge and College streets, it cost $250,000 and serves some of the 4,000 young adults that pass through the facility each year.
There’s even research showing that a tree canopy reduces crime, according to a study conducted in Portland, Oregon, by foresters with the U.S. Forest Service. And if that doesn’t convince retailers, perhaps another study that demonstrated customers prefer shopping on tree-lined streets will.
“I genuinely believe the old Thomas Aquinas philosophy. Beauty helps mankind from sinking into despair,” landscape designer John Cullen recently told the
Chicago Tribune. “There’s nothing more beautiful in this world than nature.”
