Our little world of Garden Therapy is a little brighter this year because there are now two of us who strive for better living through plants. We’ve been working hard on the new website design and planning for next year when we have some very exciting new things coming up. If you haven’t yet downloaded our new Herb Crafting book, you can get it for FREE here. It’s our little gift to say a BIG thank you to everyone who loves Garden Therapy.
Happy Holidays from Stephanie
I started writing Garden Therapy as a blog in 2009 because I was looking for my tribe. I was struggling to recover from a mysterious but severe illness and gardening was my saving grace. I got some help setting up the website and started to share photos of my garden. At first, there was only crickets but over time, people reached out on social media, commented on the blog, and emailed me to chat. It changed my whole world.
Meeting other people who love gardening, hearing their stories, and drinking in their advice has made me fall in love with GARDENERS. We are a special breed of people! Generous, nurturing, and thoughtful–and not just with plants.
Who else would help you dig holes in your yard without a second thought?
Who drops off baskets of homegrown vegetables on neighbors’ doorsteps and food banks?
Who weeds while they walk through the neighborhood or a public space?
Who is always willing to stop and smell the flowers?
Gardeners.
I’m grateful to have found my tribe of gardeners, an extended family of all of us around the globe. To you, I wish a very happy holiday season, no matter what or how you celebrate, I hope that it is with a gardener.
xo
Stephanie
Happy Holidays from Rose
For those of you who don’t know me yet, my name is Rose, and I am Garden Therapy’s new(ish) content editor. I first got involved with Garden Therapy in 2016 when Stephanie hired me on a contract, and I continued to do regular part-time editing work for her for the next year while I was working towards my Master’s degree in English Literature. In August of this year, I completed my degree (hooray!) and in September I came on as Garden Therapy’s full-time content editor (hooray again!).
This holiday season, I am making it a priority to connect with nature every day.
As an apartment dweller with no outdoor space (and not a ton of indoor space either), I’m just beginning to learn the power of garden therapy in an urban setting. Growing up, I lived in rural British Columbia on an acreage where gardening was a huge part of my life. My parents taught me and my siblings how to plant, grow, and harvest (and weed…there was a lot of weeding) all sorts of produce that made up a large part of our everyday meals, so I am no stranger to getting my hands dirty. But since I moved away from my hometown I have always lived in small apartments or basement suites in urban areas. Often these living situations were fairly temporary and cramped, so gardening of any kind stopped being a part of my life. Now, however, I am on a mission to bring gardening back into my daily routine.
This summer my partner and I moved into an apartment we love. It’s spacious enough for the two of us, the location is perfect, it has huge, bright windows, and it feels like home. The abundance of natural light means it’s the perfect place for houseplants, and I’ve been bringing home more and more. The living room is beginning to look a bit like a jungle, and I love it. The air feels purer, the place is cozier and more inviting, and when I’m home alone I have a large banana plant to talk to.
For me, this year has been full of major changes. It has been a period of growth, new beginnings, and letting go. I am incredibly thankful for everything I have this holiday season, and so grateful to be part of the Garden Therapy team. I can’t wait to learn even more and to get to know you all a little better. Happy holidays! Wishing you joy and love this season.
Cheers,
Rose
Hello Stephny & Rose; really thank you for enhancing our spirit with garden invironment. Yuo put me to recall my friend in Zimbabwe, he calls: Philip Nyamutsita, who took me to the top of Easterrn Highlands – Zimbabwe, (it runs too normaly between Zimbabwe and Mozambique in a range of almost 300 km. Philip used to take me up there and from there he showed me my homeland Mozambique during Mozambique civil war in 1985.
we used to apreciate wild flowers there and peer down from the top there the graceful acacia tree in their variety, and time runed as this while we enjoyed our peculiar paradise place. Philip mencioned about Bvumba Botanical Garderns, which usually were visited by tourists from many places of the world; so he mencioned regarding a certain acacia I apointed as beautiful and he said that style of its nature was abundant in Bvumba Botanical Gardern; yet he didin;t forgert La Rochelle Botanical Garderns too un Penyalonga – Zimbabwe. and that infused my spirit to start loving greens.
Now, you are fueling me again with that, so I’m colecting flowers to live as that.
At the end, let me say thank you again, Stephany and Rose.