Therapeutic Landscapes: Gardens for Horticultural Therapy Coming of Age

T herapeutic gardens are appearing as features in national publi- cations and are being built with increasing frequency in healthcare settings. Among these new gardens there is a remarkable degree of correlation between physical design and programming factors likely to improve therapeutic benefits to garden visitors and participants. There are seven identified factors: scheduled and programmed activities and features; features modified to improve accessibility to plants and gardening techniques; well-defined perimeters; a profusion of plants and people-plant interactions; essentially benign and supportive conditions; universal design for completely accessible plant-dominated features, details and spaces; and recognizable pacemaking. All emphasize the experiences of the five senses; of understanding, time, comfort, and freedom of movement; and of personal achievements associated with the garden and its components. Each of the seven characteristics interrelates with a vigorous plantdominated landscape to achieve horticultural-therapy objectives.