News Release

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s N.C. Botanical Garden is finding a way to help people with brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, psychiatric illness, multiple sclerosis, drug addiction and blindness – by introducing them to the joys of gardening.

Horticultural therapy, which uses gardening as a therapeutic activity for people of all ability levels, also is the focus of a week of activities at the garden this month. Staff members will observe National Horticultural Therapy Week (March 20 through 26) by offering a series of free programs designed to introduce the public to the concept.

The following programs will be held at the N.C. Botanical Garden’s visitor site on Old Mason Farm Road, just off U.S. 15-501 Bypass (Fordham Boulevard).

· March 20, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.: "Horticultural Therapy: An Introduction." Participants will take a tour of the horticultural therapy program facilities and learn about the program’s philosophy and groups served.

· March 21, noon to 1 p.m.: "Activity Analysis: Seed Tapes." Using simple materials found in the kitchen, participants will make seed tapes for easy planting in the garden and learn how this activity is used as therapy.

· March 22, 11 a.m. to noon: "Horticultural Therapy: A Personal View." Gardeners from Learning Services Inc., a Durham residential facility for people with traumatic brain injury, will be on hand. These gardeners visit the N.C. Botanical Garden regularly, participating in the horticultural therapy program.

· March 23, noon to 1 p.m.: "Tools of the Trade." Participants will examine a variety of tools used for specific ability levels and discuss considerations in tool selection.

· March 24, noon to 1 p.m.: "Sensory Stimulation: Hands-on Activity." Participants will take a tour of the Mercer Reeves Hubbard Herb Garden, make a "nosegay" and learn how herbs stimulate the senses.

Nancy Easterling, president of the American Horticultural Therapy Association, coordinates the garden’s horticultural therapy program. The field, she said, encompasses many activities providing participants with opportunities to experience nature. "It’s about people and plants. It’s about our relationships with the natural world."

Horticultural therapists are skilled at creating garden spaces that accommodate people with a wide range of abilities. In horticultural therapy programs, people with physical or mental disabilities benefit from gardening experiences, and they learn skills, adaptations and gardening methods that allow for continued participation at home.

"Once a week," said Easterling, "we go into our garden with a group of individuals with brain injury. Each individual brings unique strengths and weaknesses along, but all have in common a love of gardening. As they work in the garden, they learn new ways to use their hands, arms and legs as they reach, bend and dig in the earth. It’s a social time, as well. Since the botanical garden is a public garden, they find themselves conversing with visitors, sharing their plant stories. At the end of our time together, these gardeners feel they have participated in a meaningful and familiar activity."

Professional horticultural therapists nationwide celebrate National Horticultural Therapy Week each year around the first day of spring. U.S. Rep. David Price has introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives to officially recognize National Horticultural Therapy Week.

For more information on the N.C. Botanical Garden’s horticultural therapy program, visit www.ncbg.unc.edu/Hort_Therapy.html.

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N.C. Botanical Garden contact: Nancy Easterling, (919) 962-0522 or easterli@email.unc.edu