Horticulture therapy is a process of bringing people and plants together for therapeutic benefits. It is customized to the individual, including the level of difficulty, just as any other therapy is. Horticulture therapy restores well being, comforts grieving, provides a constructive release for anger and frustration, and relieves depression.
Horticulture therapy can also help one reinvent oneself following a sensory or mobility loss.
Horticulture therapy requires the expertise, guidance, and supervision of a certified horticultural therapist. Horticultural therapy has been a very effective modality tool in acute care settings, rehabilitation hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, in healing gardens for children, nursing home gardens, Alzheimer's treatment gardens, hospice gardens, and enabling gardens for people with physical or sensory disabilities. Interview with Horticulturist Gene Rothert Gene Rothart is President of the American Horticulture Therapy Association and Manager of the Enabling Gardens at the Chicago Botanical Gardens. He is also the author of Enabling Gardens. Well, it was serendipitously.