a place for healing August 19, 2006
Posted by Sandy in a small garden in maine.trackback
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. John Muir
Isn’t this a neat place? It is called the Healing Garden. Our local hospital, Maine Medical Center, has a campus in our town, a large sprawling building, with all sorts of specialized centers. I go there sometimes with my friend, when she goes to the cancer center.
A few years ago, we were surprised to find this beautiful, garden, newly built out behind the parking lot. What a great idea, to have a quiet place for people to spend a few quiet minutes. There are benches, and paths, a pond, and beautiful flowers everywhere. It seems that some local gardening companies got together and donated the plants, hardscape, and work to put this garden together. Now, that was truly a wonderful thing to do.
In an ideal world a beautiful garden like this would be everywhere we go. The Healing Garden must be very soothing, it certainly looks that way in the angle you photographed it. My master gardener volunteer hours are spent tending gardens (we take care of 43) at a veteran’s home. The state never had gardens there and if the master gardeners hadn’t volunteered time, energy, plants, etc, there’d be none. The gardens, over several years have become extensive and the residents of the home appreciate them more than ever. And we who garden get much out of the experience as well. It works both ways.
I met a woman this summer who teaches at Duke and is writing a book about these types of gardens and the role they play in both the patients’ lives and the patients’ families’ lives. I had never considered them before that conversation (I should say I have thankfully never had to).
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