NEWS

N.C. Botanical Garden program to share healing benefits of nature

By JENA WITTKAMP
UNC News Services

CHAPEL HILL -- Trees and plants aren’t just nice to look at – they can be good for your health, too. Natural settings can have restorative properties, says Nancy Easterling, a horticultural therapist and education specialist at the N.C. Botanical Garden.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s garden will offer free training to volunteers who want to support therapeutic horticulture programs in a Sept. 6 workshop, "Serving Your Community Through Therapeutic Horticulture," to be held from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The location is the garden’s Totten Center.

"Therapeutic horticulture brings people and plants together to improve general well-being," said Easterling, program organizer and president of the American Horticultural Therapy Association. "We are excited about the opportunity to support gardening programs in local residential and health-care facilities."

The botanical garden provides therapeutic horticulture programs for several community organizations, Easterling said. Children with psychiatric issues participate in activities designed to help them work together cooperatively, and senior citizens can benefit from the physical exercise and social opportunities that gardening and enjoyment of nature provide, she added.

The program will provide participants with an overview of horticultural therapy and therapeutic horticulture, a guide for seasonal gardening, a format for horticulture activity-based therapy, seasonal activities for therapeutic horticulture and presentations from community organizations with therapeutic horticulture programs.

"We believe that gardens are life-affirming and that volunteers can become significant players in transforming these places into vibrant communities where plants are a part of everyday life," Easterling said. "Gardens and gardening can change lives."

The program is free but requires pre-registration. Other upcoming programs at the botanical garden include a "Celebration of Indigenous People and Plants," the 16^th Annual Sculpture in the Garden show and a workshop on herbal oils. For more information, call (919) 962-0522 or click on www.ncbg.unc.edu.

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(Wittkamp, of Raleigh, is a senior majoring in women’s studies and journalism and mass communication.)

N.C. Botanical Garden contact: Nancy Easterling, (919) 962-0522