Creating therapeutic garden landscapes by Randy Eady, MEd, NCC

There are thousands upon thousands of healing gardens around the world. They’re situated in community gardens, retreat centers, wellness facilities, hospitals, universities, active-adult living spaces—even front yards. Increasingly, these gardens include interactive outdoor environments with traditional Chinese cobblestone paths, active-aging fitness features or maze-like configurations called labyrinths. Perhaps you’d like to add one to your location as well. But where do you start?

How about reorienting your view of what a healing garden space might be? Let’s put gardens on the functional path to making people more holistically fit, while offering the possibility for symptom relief for those with conditions such as balance disorders, restless legs syndrome or clinical depression.1,2,3,4,5 Sound challenging? Take a journey along the functional path and discover a world beyond traditional healing gardens.