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WALK THE GARDEN PATH FOR STRESS RELIEF

by Melissa Bartalos

Gainesville—Visiting a botanical garden could help you fight stress this holiday season, according to researchers at the University of Florida.

In a recent study, graduate researcher Tammy Kohlleppel and Jennifer Bradley, an environmental horticulture assistant professor, concluded botanical gardens have therapeutic value. They found that walks through the gardens significantly lowered visitors' perceptions of stress.

Bijan Dehgan, a UF environmental horticulture professor and the author of Landscape Plants for Subtropical Climates, said he thinks the study is "perfectly viable" and agrees that gardens do have stress-busting qualities. He also said the results of the study could apply to nature as a whole.

"Wherever there are trees, plants and flowers, it should have the same effect," Dehgan said.

Though walking through parks, forests and botanical gardens might have similar effects, a botanical garden is a distinct entity because it is cultivated and maintained by humans. Dehgan, who teaches a course on public garden management, said botanical gardens have a different environment than parks and natural habitats because their landscape is well-organized and follows a logical pattern.

"There is more comfort in a botanical garden," Dehgan said. "There's a path, so you feel like you know your way. You don't have to worry about getting lost, and you don't have to wonder if some animal is going to jump out at you."

Dehgan said the spectrum of color and the planned arrangements in a botanical garden further distinguish it from untouched habitats like forests.

"It's like looking at a beautiful picture," he said. "It's truly art."

It's also very educational, Dehgan added. Many botanical gardens have staff and directors who develop programs and coordinate educational services for children, familiarizing them with nature. Also, botanical gardens are involved in research and conservation, he said.

Bradley said she is interested in exploring horticulture's affect on human health and well-being. Her research combines horticulture, the art and science of growing gardens, with sociology.

For their study, Bradley and Kohlleppel surveyed visitors to three Florida gardens: Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami and Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach. Besides asking for demographic information, the questionnaires asked visitors to rank their level of stress before and after visiting the garden on a scale of 1 to 10.

"There was a significant decrease in what they believed their stress levels to be," Bradley said. "The other major thing we found is that people with the highest levels of stress coming in showed a much greater reduction in stress."

Bradley said she hopes the study will help the public realize the importance and the benefits of botanical gardens. "If people are aware that there is something that happens at these gardens, hopefully they'll use them as resources -- not just to see the pretty flowers, but for the effect they have on the soul," Bradley said.

Gardening in general, including flower and vegetable gardening, has increased in the past few years. Bradley said about 70 million households in the nation now garden, and that number is expected to increase.

"Society is getting to be a more urban environment," Bradley said. "More and more people don't have space. They're living in apartments with smaller yards. It's this kind of deprivation that has created an interest in gardens. What botanical gardens do is provide a natural setting in urban areas."

The exact effects of this natural setting can only be speculated upon, Bradley said. She stressed that the project was only a preliminary study.

"Further research is necessary," Bradley said. "It needs to go to the national level and have a larger sample population."

Barbara Bennett, who works at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens in Gainesville, said the results of the study do not surprise her.

"Botanical gardens calm nerves and calm moods," she said. "They're quiet places for meditation and reflection, and they're great places to release energy into."

Bennett has worked at the gardens for 11 years and said she does a little bit of everything at her job. As a former nurse, she said she fully believes in the therapeutic value of botanical gardens.

Patients from nearby hospitals and their families often visit the gardens to relax and relieve tension. For example, people who are undergoing chemotherapy or radiation visit before or after treatment, Bennett said.

"Also, people afflicted with AIDS come out and do volunteer work for us," she said. "Working in a living, thriving environment like this is life-affirming and healthy."

Kanapaha Botanical Gardens has seen a steady growth in visitors over the last few years, according to Bennett. Though she gives some of the credit to better advertising, she also said more people visit botanical gardens now because of the growth of cities and increasingly fast-paced lives.

"The pastoral effects of gardens have been noted throughout history. When you want to feel good, get out of the city and into the country," Bennett said. "That's especially important now with everything getting mechanized, abbreviated and compacted. It will all take a toll on us."

She said more and more people are realizing that being in contact with nature every day is a necessary part of life. She cited the popularity of gardening as proof that society is catching on.

"We expect the gardening trend to increase tremendously," Bennett said. "Just look at the magazine racks at the grocery store -- there are double the gardening magazines there were 10 years ago. People are taking much more of an interest in gardening and green space."

Bennett said botanical gardens are the perfect place to find green space and get the daily dose of nature needed to help fight stress.

"The sight of beauty and the sound of running water are soothing and relaxing -- exactly what stress relief calls for," Bennett said. "All those old adages are true: walking, fresh air and sunshine are good for you."

Landscape Plants for Subtropical Climates  by Bijan Dehgan University Press of Florida  575 line drawings, index, glossary $24.95 paperback ISBN 0-8130-1628-2

 

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