Record 16,000 Votes Help Award $7,500 to Five Therapeutic Gardens Nationwide

DOWNERS GROVE, IL — National Garden Bureau, along with program sponsors American Meadows, Ball Horticultural Company and Sakata Seed America are proud to announce the five therapeutic gardens receiving grants totaling more than $7,500.

For 13 years, National Garden Bureau has provided much-needed resources for worthy therapeutic gardens. This funding allows these gardens to continue and expand their good work for deserving clients.

After a two-week online voting period, the public has named the five winning gardens:

• Rising Light Project, St. Charles, Illinois

First place vote-recipient; winner of a $3,000 grant.

Rising Lights Project provides educational day programming for adults (22+) with disabilities who have aged out of traditional support services. Their Garden Program is a hands-on outdoor classroom where participants learn horticulture, sustainable gardening, biodiversity, nutrition, and environmental stewardship while developing social, vocational, and life skills.

• Hope Clubhouse of Southwest Florida, Fort Myers, Florida

Second place, winner of a $1,500 grant.

Hope Clubhouse is a hands-on, member-driven program that promotes recovery, wellness, and workforce readiness. The Clubhouse’s Urban Garden of HOPE, through their structured Work-Ordered Day program, emphasizes meaningful work, peer support, and skill development in a therapeutic space. Members develop transferable skills such as communication, time management, and responsibility, while improving nutrition and overall wellness.

• Eagle Mount, Bozeman, Montana

Runner-Up; winner of a $1,000 grant.

Eagle Mount Bozemanserves people of all ages with physical and cognitive disabilities and cancer in southwestern MT. The Horticulture Program began in 1989 when adults with developmental disabilities joined the men’s garden club to install landscaping around our building. Today, in two greenhouses and a garden, participants enjoy the therapeutic benefits of growing plants year-round.

• Homesteads for Hope, Rochester, New York

Runner-Up; winner of a $1,000 grant.

Nature’s Classroom is Homesteads for Hope’s therapeutic garden program. They serve adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and the broader community through hands-on engagement with plants, gardens, and the natural farm environment. Participants seed, plant, harvest, and tend living plants daily, with our accessible sensory garden at the center — designed to engage through touch, smell, sight, and sound.

• NC Botanical Garden – The Farm at Penny Lane, Pittsboro, North Carolina

Runner-Up; winner of a $1,000 grant.

The Therapeutic Horticulture Program at the Farm at Penny Lane is a mental health–focused, community-based program for adults living with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI). Using a trauma-informed, strengths-based approach, they create a supportive space where participants connect with nature, themselves, and one another to build emotional resilience and a sense of belonging.

Additional details about each garden can be found on the NGB website. National Garden Bureau, American Meadows, Ball Horticultural Company and Sakata Seed America would like to recognize all grant applicants that participated this year. All are listed on the NGB website. NGB encourages support of these and other therapeutic gardens by industry, local communities, and individuals.

The judges who read all the applications and narrowed them down to the five finalists deserve a huge thank-you. Those judges are:

Isabel Fuenzalida, Culture & Organizational Development, Sakata Seed America

Alicia Green, Buehler Enabling Garden Coordinator, Chicago Botanic Garden

Corporate Giving, Ball Horticultural Company

Nancy Ketchmark, Owner, Flowers Contained

Barbara Kreski, Retired Director, Horticultural Therapy, Chicago Botanic Garden

Tabar Gifford, Partnership Cultivator, American Meadows

For more information about National Garden Bureau, please contact Diane Blazek.