Iwas in my mid-20s when I realised the importance of having a garden. I was living in a tiny village in Uganda where food was scarce. People grew what they could, but often there wasn't enough to go around. I was frequently hungry. During this time, I also travelled through the mountains of Rwanda where people tended to food gardens cut into thin rungs of land.
This was not long after the 1994 genocide, and I realised that inherent in planting a garden is the belief in a future. You plant a seed and you wait. You believe you will see a time when you will harvest what you grow.
![Gardens teach us about new life and the inevitability of loss.](/web/20170309075012im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/p/e/o/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guperp.png/1488497888665.jpg)
I returned to Australia and started a garden. I ached to make sense of my African experiences and did so by wandering into my backyard, watching fat plops of water sink into the soil, noticing the leaves brighten and dull, and the way growth and decay played out with the seasons. I felt calmer and less restless each time I gardened.
"We are innately drawn to natural settings," says horticulturist and diversional therapist Toni Salter. "Research has shown that there can be immense benefits for a person's mental and physical health if they escape into a bit of greenery. The whole atmosphere of a garden is therapeutic."
Salter, the president of Cultivate NSW, the state's peak body for horticultural therapy, works with people with disabilities in sensory gardens. The process of using plants and gardens in therapeutic or rehabilitative activities is known as horticultural therapy, and it has been found to positively impact people's self-esteem, mood and social interactions. Some studies claim it may even reduce the severity of depression.
Horticultural therapy is used in hospitals, aged-care facilities, community gardens, prisons and mental health facilities. Therapeutic gardens usually include a variety of plants to arouse the senses and provide visual or tactile opportunities for people to explore, ponder, recuperate or heal.
The concept of a garden as a place of healing resonates with Emily Muir*. "I had severe anxiety after having children and started gardening as part of a combination of strategies for dealing with it," she says. Now, if she is feeling panicky or tense, Muir prunes her front hedge vigorously. "I have so many people come past and offer their electric hedge clippers! I tell them I'm actually enjoying it and it's very important for me.'"
Muir believes gardening has powerful links to our psychological wellbeing. "Part of the process of learning to deal with anxiety is taking one step at a time; you chart your progress," she says. "A garden also mimics that in a physical sense, because it starts to grow. You sow seeds, you pull stuff out that's not working, you compost it and you can use it again."
It's something Steven Wells has seen time and again in his role as a horticultural therapist at Melbourne's Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre. Wells works with injured people including those with spinal cord injuries, brain injuries and strokes, and uses gardening therapeutically to address rehabilitation goals. "Sometimes it's about the physical work of propagating, potting and replanting, which help with fine motor skills, but sometimes it's about the emotional or psychological benefits of reconnecting with nature," he says. "Horticultural therapy isn't necessarily about the immediacy of now. Most gardeners are planting for longevity – and that's what gives gardeners a different perspective."
It's hard to find a more potent symbol of regeneration than a garden. Gardens teach us about new life and the inevitability of loss. Despite my own numerous failures, I persevere because gardening isn't about success. It's about discovery and hope.
* Name has been changed.
Sowing seeds
• If you don't have a garden, grow a pot of herbs or flowers on a window sill or balcony
• If you don't have a green thumb, spending time outside can be restorative by simply observing the sun, birds and plants
• Choose plants that engage the senses, such as pineapple sage and chocolate mint (for their scent) and lamb's ears (soft to touch)