The Healing Garden: Nature's Restorative Powers

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

Gardens heal. This is Marjorie Harris’s theme, one both simple and
profound: “Those of us who garden see what we do as creating a
sanctuary from the forces of darkness, within and without.”

Harris is perhaps Canada’s best-known and most-authoritative writer
on garden lore. In this pocket-sized book that draws on tradition and
her own experience, she explores why and how gardens have power to heal
and restore. Her own garden freed her from despair and anger, and taught
her “to become strong and useful in my surroundings.”

Six short chapters cover the first garden (the wilderness), the history
of the healing garden, contemporary horticultural therapy, wildlife in
the garden, the sensual garden, and designing a healing garden. Two
pages of suggested readings round out the book.

The history of the healing garden moves quickly from the ancient
Chinese and Egyptians to the Greeks and Romans, then covers Arab
countries and Christian monasteries, where gardening belonged to the
monks’ and nuns’ way of life. Much of the lore was held by women.
After the deaths from plague in the Dark and Middle Ages, healing women
were burnt at the stake and the healing arts went underground in Europe.

The last chapter, on garden design, stresses that a small space will
serve, as long as there are plants, sunlight, and love. Harris lists
favorite plants, describing their needs and uses. The Healing Garden is
as refreshing as shade on a hot day.