DOWNERS GROVE, IL – Once again, National Garden Bureau, American Meadows and Sakata Seed America are uniting to provide $5,000 in grant money for three well-deserving therapeutic gardens in North America. In addition, Corona Tools will provide a generous set of quality gardening tools to each of the three winning therapeutic gardens.
National Garden Bureau promotes the health and healing powers of human interaction with plants through a yearly grant program for therapeutic gardens. American Meadows is a respected online retailer of wildflower seeds, perennial plants, flower bulbs and vegetable seeds in North America. Sakata Seed America is a leader in breeding vegetable and ornamental seed and vegetative cuttings. Corona, Inc. is a manufacturer of professional and consumer tools for the lawn and garden, landscape, irrigation, construction and agriculture markets. All four are committed to supporting organizations throughout North America that help people live productive, healthy and enriched lives.
According to the American Horticultural Therapy Association, horticultural therapy (HT) is a time-proven practice. HT techniques are used to assist participants in learning new skills or regaining those that were lost. A therapeutic garden is a plant-dominated environment purposefully designed to facilitate interaction with the healing elements of nature. There are many sub-types of therapeutic gardens including healing gardens, enabling gardens, rehabilitation gardens, and restorative gardens.
Applications are now being accepted from therapeutic gardens that meet the following criteria:
- Have a defined therapeutic program, with a Registered Horticulture Therapist on-staff or serving as an advisor, that uses the garden to achieve outlined goals for participants. Examples include horticultural therapy, occupational, physical, vocational or rehabilitation therapy in a garden setting or using gardening to promote positive social relationships within a community.
- Offer a gardening experience where there is significant people and plant interaction for the population served
- Is used for job-training, skill-building, food growing, socialization skills, improved quality of life, stress reduction, environmental education or any other positive outcome that can be gained by working in nature.
- Involve a significant number of gardeners, clients, patients, visitors or students on a monthly basis.
To apply, applicants who meet the criteria outlined above should complete this application form and submit it to the NGB office by July 1, 2019. A group of horticulture therapy experts will narrow down applications to three finalists in mid-July. Those three finalists will then be asked to submit a one-minute video that will be posted on www.ngb.org. Voting will be open from September 9-23, 2019. The top vote-getter will receive $3,000, second and third place will receive $1,000 each.
The panel of experts to determine the three garden finalists are:
- Patty Cassidy, Registered Horticultural Therapist and Vice President of the AHTA
- Barbara Kreski, Consultant for Horticultural Therapy Services
- Julie Tracy, Julie+Michael Tracy Family Foundation/Urban Autism Solutions
- Tim Hodson, President, National Garden Bureau
- Isabel Fuenzalida, Sakata Seed America
- Mike Lizotte Jr., American Meadows
For more information about this project or National Garden Bureau, visit: www.ngb.org and follow National Garden Bureau on Social Media.
###
National Garden Bureau, founded in 1920, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to disseminate basic instructions for home gardeners. Annually, NGB publishes and sponsors the New Varieties program and the Year Of The fact sheets featuring flowers and vegetables, including new introductions, which are especially suited to home gardens. National Garden Bureau has also taken an active role in supporting therapeutic gardens through fundraising and grants.
American Meadows is one of the most respected online retailers of wildflower seeds, perennial plants, flower bulbs and vegetable seeds in all of North America. Our people have been helping supply gardeners since 1981. At American Meadows, we like to say that we Do Good Through Gardening. Our primary focus is to be great at providing home gardeners with the products and knowledge they need to succeed. We seek to be a trusted gardening partner for creative gardeners —those who are willing to combine new ideas and products with classic favorites. Our customers range from some of the most experienced horticulturists in the country, to those who simply want to add a little color to their life, and everyone in between.
Sakata Seed America is a major research, vegetable and flower seed production and marketing-distribution company. Corporate Giving is one important way that Sakata Seed America works to contribute to the betterment of life and culture in the communities where they conduct business. Through financial contributions, in-kind donations, employee engagement, corporate volunteering and organizational leadership, their goals are to educate individuals on the benefits of flowers and vegetables, provide products and services to those in need, and assist those who are working to better their communities.
