Gardening and Therapeutic Horticulture

National
State Listings:    IL / MN / WI // (Official USPS State Abbreviations)
Country Listings:    Canada / United Kingdom

National

Allergy-Free Gardening: The Revolutionary Guide to Healthy Gardening website is a great contribution to horticulture and gardening as it explains how allergy ridden our gardens are because of our choice in plants and the sex of the plants. Thomas Ogren has a vision to change landscape gardening, to reduce the use of plants that cause allergies in private and public landscaping, including schools, parks and our own backyards.

American Horticultural Therapy Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization concerned with the promotion and development of Horticultural Therapy programming and is a champion of barrier-free, therapeutic gardens that enable everyone to work, learn, and relax in the garden. Horticultural therapists are skilled at creating garden spaces that accommodate people with a wide range of abilities. People with physical or mental disabilities benefit from gardening experiences as part of AHTA programs, and they learn skills, adaptations, and gardening methods that allow for continued participation at home. The American Horticultural Therapy Association has helped horticultural therapy gain acceptance as a unique and dynamic human service program. AHTA is the only US organization concerned with the promotion and development of HT programming. More than 800 individuals and organizations located across the US, Canada, Japan, and beyond, are members. AHTA administers a voluntary professional registration based on academic achievements, work and volunteer experience. Go to AHTA’s professional registration pages to learn more. AHTA offer memberships to individuals, students, professionals, and institutions both nationally and internationally. Go to AHTA’s membership page to learn the benefits of membership and join. AHTA publishes an annual journal: The Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture. AHTA membership includes the annual issue. AHTA sponsors an annual conference. This conference is open to the public; however, a discount on tickets will be available for AHTA members. The conference is an educational and networking event. For more information contact The American Horticultural Therapy Association, 150 South Warner Road, Suite 156, King of Prussia, PA 19406, By Phone: Local: 484-654-0357 (AHTA), By Fax: 610-225-2364, By Email AHTA Executive Director, Martha Heinze, at info@ahta.org

BuildingYour Own Home Garden article is by Alan Bernau, Jr. on Alans Factory Outlet.com. Although this guide is not just for those with accessibility challenges, this has a comprehensive listing of how to plant a home garden, Planting Trees, Plants, Vegetables, Flowers,Yard and Garden, Garden Care, Gardening Resources and a section on Kids Can Help. When viewing these articles we came across the Special Garden Gifts and Tools listed below.

Accessible Gardening is a forum for the discussion of gardening by and for people with physical limitations and is meant to cover everything from raised gardens to easy-to-use tools.

In the Country Garden and Gifts Handicap Accessible Gardening page provides articles, links and information on accessible gardening by the co-owner Josh Spece, who himself uses a wheelchair. "Being in a wheelchair and loving gardening, it seems fitting to include a section on Accessible Gardening in my web site. Millions of people have physical limitations due to aging, injuries, or diseases. That DOES NOT mean we can't enjoy gardening in one form or another! As common as both disabilities and gardening are, you would think there would be more information available on handicap accessible gardening."

Horticultural Therapy - Create an Enabled Garden From the Garden Forever website, which promotes gardening for people of all ages, abilities and lifestyles. Horticultural Therapy - Create an Enabled Garden by Joyce Schillen Arthritis, back injuries, disabilities caused by accidents, and other health problems can make gardening difficult if not impossible for some people to do without special consideration. Here are some tips on enabled gardening from the Washington State University Master Gardeners: Jan McNeilan, consumer horticulture agent with the Oregon Master Gardener Program at Oregon State University, offers these suggestions for people suffering from arthritis.

Thanks to Accessible Gardens versatile and affordable raised garden beds, everyone, regardless of age or physical limitation, can continue to reap the many rewards of gardening.

State Listings

Illinois

We Grow Dreams provides people with disabilities the opportunity to lead fulfilling lives and to train and work in a supportive, safe and caring environment while producing and providing products and services to the community. In this pursuit, they honor the concepts of human dignity, respect, hard work, fellowship and friendship. A dream in the minds of a small group of Naperville parents and the determination to make the dream a reality are behind the We Grow Dreams Greenhouse & Garden Center, a not-for-profit corporation in West Chicago, IL. This dream is being fulfilled by providing job training and employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The founders recognized the lack of employment opportunities for people with disabilities, and came together to creatively address this need. A greenhouse was identified as a labor intensive, multiskilled business - something necessary for a dynamic job vocational training ground. We Grow Dreams job-training program provides opportunities for our Team Members to learn a variety of tasks in the day-to-day operation of a wholesale and retail greenhouse business. Over 45 specific jobs have been identified for the job-training program including: deadheading plants, filling pots with soil for seeds/seedlings, transplanting, spacing plant materials, watering, stocking plants/supplies, greeting & assisting customers, running the cash register, folding cartons, clerical tasks and maintenance tasks. In addition to these jobs, our Craft Program produces greeting cards, hypertufa pots, personalized garden bricks, and bird feeders for sale to the public. Team Members develop valuable work, communication and social skills that will facilitate their employment in the future. For more information about our Team Member program and to schedule a tour, please contact Laurie Staple, at 1055 West Washington St. West Chicago, IL 60185, or Phone 630-293-0100 or FAX 630-293-1510 or send E-mail to info@wegrowdreams.org.

Minnesota

Accessible Gardening for Therapeutic Horticulture from the University of Minnesota.

Wisconsin

Victory Garden objective is to get people eating healthy food while enjoying growing their own vegetables and fruits in their own backyard. If you will require an accessible garden bed these can be more costly, but community garden groups may be able to help. Victory Garden Wisconsin will build a four by eight foot raised garden bed, you add some seeds and a couple hot house plants and you are feeding family and friends. (Go to Buy a Blitz Garden)

If you live in the following Milwaukee county Zip Codes: 53204 - 53206 - 53208 - 53218 you can purchase a garden for only $25. If you live in certain other Milwaukee neighborhoods you can pay just $50. Otherwise gardens cost from $175-200. All gardens will be built during the Blitz, May 11-25, 2019.

Or Volunteer at th Victory Garden Urban Farm and take home some produce. Call (414) 431-0888 for more information on volunteering.

Country Listings

Canada

Canadian Horticultural Therapy Association To contact C.H.T.A. Head Office, at 80 Westmount Rd., Guelph, ON, CANADA N1H 5H8, or call Phone: (519) 822-9842.

Thrive: Carry On Gardening Top tips for disabled gardeners There is additional information on gardening: after a stroke and with heart disease; sitting down and from a wheelchair; with sight loss; with a weak grip; with one hand; if you can't bend easily; and for emotional wellbeing Thrive, The Geoffrey Udall Centre, Beech Hill, Reading, RG7 2AT or Phone: 0118 988 5688 or Fax: 0118 988 5677 From Thrive, an organization out of the United Kingdom whose aim is to enable positive change in the lives of disabled and disadvantaged people through the use of gardening and horticulture.

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