‘There’s something calming . . . something basic about working with the earth.’
For someone who cares about both plants and people and who doesn’t mind getting a little grimy from time to time, horticultural therapy--using gardening as a healing aid for people recovering from emotional disorders--can be a satisfying career. San Diegan Terry Wasenar, 36, has found it extremely so. When Wasenar got her bachelor of arts in horticulture therapy in 1973 from Kansas State University, she became only the second person in the United States to earn a degree in that field. She is now part of what the Menninger Foundation’s horticulture therapy director, Tim Hultquist, calls “A career of the future.” She was interviewed by Wendy Haskett and photographed by Barbara Martin.
They told me at Kansas State, “You’ll be a pioneer.” It was exciting. It was scary! I’d no idea where I was going to find a job.
I interned at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kan., for six months. Then, because the man I was romantically involved with lived in San Diego, I mailed applications to every hospital in San Diego County. Vista Hill, which is a private psychiatric hospital, was the only one that had ever heard of a horticultural therapist.
There’s something calming . . . something basic about working with the earth. I’ve watched patients who were angry work it off digging, or chopping weeds. I’ve watched people who were tense soothed by working in a garden.
And I’ve watched withdrawn people brighten at the compliments they’ve received for growing something beautiful.
The oldest patient I’ve worked with was 98, the youngest 4. Their problems have covered a wide range. Schizophrenia. Suicidal tendencies. Drug problems. Depression. We’ve had children who have been abused and children whose parents couldn’t cope with them because of behavioral problems.
One of the most common problems among patients is a feeling of hopelessness. The despairing feeling that they’ve nothing to look forward to. And gardening always promises you something to look forward to.
We had one patient who felt so hopeless he had given up talking. I gave him a couple of dying potted plants to take care of. He was wonderful with them. He nourished them with plant food, he moved them around his room so that they got just the right amount of light. When they began to flourish he was so proud of them he just had to tell somebody, so he began talking again. It was as if he came back to life with the plants.
The age groups I have the most fun working with are the small children and the seniors. The seniors are special because frequently I learn from them, rather than the other way around. They give me little tips. One woman told me to spread pine needles under the camellias. “It makes them bloom and flourish,” she said. It does.
Some of the adolescents will scowl and mutter, “I didn’t come here to pull weeds.” But the little ones get very excited about gardening. We outfit them in gloves and a sun visor and give them a watering can. They’ll water anything. They’ll water a weed.
A few months ago I was working in the garden with a 10-year-old boy named Andrew who picked and ate a fresh tomato for the first time in his life. He’d never eaten a fresh one before, although he did say he thought he might have eaten a cooked one, in soup. He was so delighted with the taste he decided to try a raw carrot.
That’s one of the things I enjoy most about this job--that every day is different.
In the 14 years I’ve been at Vista Hill I’ve hoed and dug, mulched, weeded and watered alongside my therapy patients. We’ve planted and harvested everything from onions to sunflowers. We’ve cooked corn fritters in the therapy wing kitchen with our own corn. On hot summer days our own fresh mint has flavored our tea. Our flowers have filled hospital rooms in the other wings.
As far as I know, I’m still the only registered horticulture therapist working in San Diego County. I think it’s the ideal job for a gardener who cares about people. But you don’t have to know everything about gardening. I still don’t know everything. I learn something every day from the patients.
