Horticultural Therapy

I’ve been promising to talk about horticultural therapy in a blip and I thought I might do it through a series of stories so you’ll really get a sense of what HT is. I’ll share some of the most moving moments in my career. I hope this is not too long! Today's blip is the same clump of crocus from which I dug up crocus for Eleonora.

 
A few years ago, I taught a course at our local community college called “End-of-Life Therapies”. It focuses on specific therapeutic approaches appropriate for end-of-life care and I had been asked to teach it from the perspective of a registered horticultural therapist. 
 
I didn’t have significant end-of-life experience at the time, so a friend introduced me to a friend of hers who was dying of an aggressive brain tumor. Eleonora had been a teacher and practicing Buddhist during her lifetime and was eager to talk to me about her experiences and allowed me to take a video of her to show my class.
 
Eleonora was 85 years old when I met her. During her lifetime she had been a passionate gardener, ballerina, writer, artist and yoga instructor. She was diagnosed with the tumor the day before Christmas and died on February 19th. 
 
The weather that winter had been mild, and the crocuses had already started blooming that January. I dug up a clump of yellow, fragrant crocus from my garden and potted them up in a terra cotta pot, tucking some moss on top. 
 
When I handed Eleonora the damp pot, she took it with both hands and buried her nose in it. As she breathed deeply, a look of great peace came to her face. As we talked, she would catch the scent of the crocus and breathe deeply and smile. At one point she looked at me and said “You know exactly what I’m smelling!” I was deeply moved.
 
During the class I played the video of Eleonora talking about her experiences as she died. She talked of being present in the process of death and of her extraordinary life and the joy of having spent so much time in nature. We were all moved by Eleonora’s description of embracing her death.
 
I facilitated an activity with the students that involved planting a viola in a small, damp terra-cotta pot and tucking moss from the garden on top. I wanted to replicate what I did with Eleonora so that they could experience for themselves the power of horticultural therapy.
 
One of the students wrote beautifully about her experience in class:
 
“The moss and viola in the terra cotta pot sits on my kitchen windowsill. When I see it, I am reminded of the joy life brings to us in all its beauty, smells and sounds. Eleonora reminded us to absorb it all in the biggest way possible. She let us know that we should be true to ourselves and the world around us. As I water the plant, I think of her rolling the wet terra cotta pot in her hands and inhaling the earth with all her senses. This is a powerful reminder of what plants can bring to the end of life. The garden is a hopeful reminder of the circle of life and the connection to something bigger. The violas and especially the moss remind me of Eleonora and the possibility of living through the senses, even as you are experiencing extreme physical loss.”
 
To learn more about horticultural therapy, you can visit the American Horticultural Therapy Association website here: https://www.ahta.org

And the Association of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture Practioners (UK) here: http://asthp.org.uk

And Therapeutic Horticulture Australia here: https://www.tha.org.au