Our Therapeutic Garden

Right from the beginning Mrs. F.G. had the idea of the back yard garden as a therapy garden for me.  Not that I need therapy, but just that it would be good for my mental health, and of course for hers too.  She got the idea from the gardens at Parkwood Institute, the rehab hospital I was in for two months, from her own experience at long term care homes, and from the literature on 'forest bathing'.  

She planned our patio, even though we already had a big deck.  And then she planned to surround the patio with flowers.  All the grass is now gone and it's completely flowers.  I ride off the deck and down into the middle of the patio and I'm immersed.

The garden is now at its peak, full of colour.  But you have to add to the photo the sound and sight of the insects, especially the butterflies and bumblebees, and just the feeling of being out in the fresh air.  Close your eyes for a moment and try to picture yourself here, sitting in the middle of all those flowers.

The patio was poured in the summer of 2020, so that fall and winter the planning was done and plants were ordered.  In the spring of 2021 the first plants went in, well-spaced apart.  But you may have heard gardeners say that in year 1 the plants sleep, year 2 they creep, and year 3 they leap.  All of a sudden it's year 3 and the plants are leaping!

Mrs. F.G. herself would describe this as a cottage garden, or as her 'collect and stuff' garden.  She collects interesting plants and stuffs them in wherever there's space.  The Petunias along the edge of the garden  add a lot of colour.  There are some flowers that perpetuate themselves by self-seeding, often in a location where you least expect them.

It's simply the experience of being immersed in this garden, as well as the original intention, that is 'therapeutic'.  There's nothing technically special about it except that in this case it required an area accessible to a wheelchair.  Although Mrs. F.G. says that when she looks at the garden she only sees WORK, I know it's very good for her mental health too.  The garden after all, is our vacation now.

There's been a lot written on forest therapy now, and there's good scientific evidence that we benefit from time spent in nature.  This is my favourite spot for a bit of forest therapy, in fact the only forest now accessible to me - you probably recognize it, the trail in Harrison Park where we were back for lunch on Friday.

This is the only photo I can come up with of Parkwood Institute, the rehab hospital which Mrs. F.G. says inspired her.  I was on the top floor of the right-hand wing here, the vet hospital is in the south wing.  In the corner on the bottom floor is the cafeteria where I could get my coffee.  I would go downstairs, get a coffee and head outside, roaming that network of pathways for an hour or two, the paths all designed for wheelchairs or walkers.  

There were 7 or 8 quiet corners or small shelters, so Mrs. F.G. and my sister or cousin often came with me and we could sit to visit outside.  If you look in the centre, close to the buildings, you'll see a pattern of 6 small narrow linear blocks surrounded by the sidewalks.  Those are raised garden beds, and I would head there every day to see what was growing.  All in all a pretty inspiring spread out, accessible garden for the rehab patients like myself.

So yes, we think of our own garden as a therapeutic garden.  At this time of year it's all beautiful flowers, but what I enjoy is watching the changes in the garden through every season all year long.