Being in a garden, surrounded by beautiful plants and doing simple, manual tasks such as deadheading, weeding and watering can calm the mind and lift the spirit, says Karen Kennedy, a horticulture therapist with a private practice in the Cleveland area and a faculty member at the Horticulture Therapy Institute (htinstitute.org). In her work helping people who have been “touched by cancer,” either as a patient or caregiver, Kennedy uses plants, gardening activities and garden landscapes to help them improve their mental and physical health. “It’s amazing to see them relax, become engaged in the process and take a break from the issues they’re dealing with,” Kennedy says. Here, she shares some horticulture therapy techniques and tips for creating a therapeutic garden.
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