Horticultural Therapy for Health and Wellbeing

Someone who’s suffered a traumatic brain injury and needs to work on motor skills, for example, may be encouraged — as a traditional mode of physical therapy — to try squeezing a soft rubber ball a certain number of times per minute.

“If a patient loses interest in that activity, a therapist who’s skilled in the practices of horticultural therapy might then hand her a pruning tool and discover that the patient is happy to clip dead leaves from plants until her hands are too tired to prune any longer,” Airhart said.

“One of the first horticultural therapy activities I learned was to make a bird feeder from a pine cone smeared with peanut butter and rolled in bird seed,” Airhart said. “That’s an easy, inexpensive activity that can be applicable to patients of all ages who are being treated for a wide variety of conditions.”

Although the positive interaction of people with plants has been noted as far back as ancient Egypt, Dr. Benjamin Rush — a medical professor in Philadelphia who is often considered the first psychologist — noted in the late 18th century that field labor in a farm setting had a curative effect on mentally ill patients.

In the two world wars of the early 20th century, horticulture provided a diversion for wounded soldiers with long hospital stays.

But it wasn’t until Alice Burlingame, a trained psychiatric social worker, started a geriatric horticulture program in Michigan State Hospital in 1951 that she began to realize horticultural therapy warranted study as a distinct profession, Airhart said.

With professional interest in the new field steadily increasing, the National Council for Therapy and Rehabilitation Through Horticulture formed in 1973.

“I first developed an interest in horticultural therapy as a graduate student at the University of Georgia in 1978, and I began serving on the board of directors of the NCTRH in 1980,” Airhart said.

When the NCTRH changed its name in 1988 to the American Horticultural Therapy Association, he served as the first president of that new organization.

At TTU, Airhart teaches the agriculture department’s horticultural therapy course every other spring semester.

“During my introductory lab session, I take students to the greenhouse and tell them to pick out a plant that looks how they feel,” he said. “It’s late in the afternoon, and they’re tired from a long day, so most pick out plants that are just a little bit wilted.”

Once, however, one of the students picked out a plant that was “green, perky and looked like it was just absolutely beaming,” Airhart said. The student who’d selected it said it was the best day of her week because she’d been asked out on a date that morning.

“Students in most classes don’t have the opportunity to interact with each other or their instructor on such a personal basis — but that just goes to show you the power of plants!” he said.