The Naturalized Habitat Network has launched a healing gardens program and is looking for about 100 people from Windsor or Essex County to take part in it.
It’s a new direction for the non-profit network, which has been focused on getting gardeners to plant native plants.
“We’ve always been about helping people heal this landscape and this is turning the whole equation on its head,” said the Naturalized Habitat Network’s program co-ordinator Dan Bissonnette.
Healing gardens are not about planting medicinal herbs but about the psychology of a well laid out landscape, Bissonnette said.
It could be a memorial garden for a family member who died or a garden that will create a backdrop for meditation. Bissonnette said one woman created a garden celebrating that she had overcome breast cancer. He’s hoping he can help people coping with stress, mental illness or a past trauma create their own healing gardens.
He said such gardens are very personal and every one will be unique. They could draw on Japanese garden landscaping, European Monastic gardens or use First Nations traditions, he said. Native plants will be encouraged along with fragrant ones.
A series of classes begin in March. There will be evening classes in Windsor, Essex, Puce and Kingsville and Saturday morning classes in Leamington and LaSalle. The cost is $40.
Registrations will be accepted during February. For more information visit www.naturalizedhabitat.org or call 519-259-2407.
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