{"id":5186,"date":"2020-02-02T15:08:46","date_gmt":"2020-02-02T23:08:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/?post_type=book&p=5186"},"modified":"2022-09-23T14:46:29","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T21:46:29","slug":"the-well-gardened-mind-the-restorative-power-of-nature","status":"publish","type":"book","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/book\/the-well-gardened-mind-the-restorative-power-of-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power Of Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Cleve West was one of the panelists for the October 2020 Northwest Horticultural Society Symposium, Gardening for the Future: Diversity and Ecology in the Urban Landscape<\/em>.\u00a0 In his presentation, he mentioned several books that have influence his thinking.\u00a0 One of those is \u201cThe Well Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature\u201d by Sue Stuart-Smith.<\/p>\n

An active gardener, married to a garden designer (Tom Stuart-Smith), the author\u2019s research shows that humans have grown flowers for ornamental purposes for at least 5,000 years, suggesting pleasure was an important factor in evolutionary development.\u00a0 \u201cThe cultivated flower\u2019s niche in the ecosystem is therefore a human emotional niche.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although English, Stuart-Smith makes reference to the research of Gregory Bratman of the University of Washington, who found that urban dwellers had improved mental health function after a 90-minute walk in a park setting.\u00a0 The benefits were not shared by a control group that walked along a roadway.<\/p>\n

Stuart-Smith includes a chapter on \u201cWar and Gardening\u201d, highlighting how soldiers found refuge in small plantings in the most horrific of settings (the Miller Library has other books devoted to this topic).\u00a0 A garden is a statement in opposition to the carnage of battle and a means to maintain some level of sanity.<\/p>\n

The author, a psychiatrist, devotes parts of this book to a brief biography of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of psychoanalysis, focusing on his appreciation of flowers, both in the wild and in garden settings.\u00a0 His favorites included gardenias and the poet\u2019s daffodil (Narcissus poeticus<\/em>), the latter he knew as a wild flower growing in meadows near a favorite holiday home in the Austrian Alps.\u00a0 Yes – Freud did have opinions on the meaning of flowers in dreams.\u00a0 I direct you to pages 144-147 of Stuart-Smith\u2019s book to learn more.<\/p>\n

Friends of Freud knew of his love of flowers and these were often gifts on his birthday.\u00a0 Stuart-Smith highlights studies that suggest flowers give longer and deeper satisfaction than any other type of gift. \u00a0Writing this review, on a gloomy, rainy day, shortly before Valentine\u2019s Day, I can especially anticipate this flower power.\u00a0 Although, chocolate works pretty well, too!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Published in Garden Notes: Northwest Horticultural Society<\/em>, Spring 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cleve West was one of the panelists for the October 2020 Northwest Horticultural Society Symposium, Gardening for the Future: Diversity and Ecology in the Urban Landscape.\u00a0 In his presentation, he mentioned several books that have influence his thinking.\u00a0 One of those is \u201cThe Well Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature\u201d by Sue Stuart-Smith. An active gardener, married to a garden designer (Tom Stuart-Smith), the author\u2019s research shows that humans have grown flowers for ornamental purposes for at least 5,000…<\/p>\n

Continue reading The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power Of Nature<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[284,22],"class_list":["post-5186","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","keyword-horticultural-therapy","keyword-reviews"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book\/5186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/book"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=5186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}