Neurological Correlates

New on the blogroll is  Therapeutic Landscapes Database Blog

Who knew this was an area of study?

Two recent posts were of interest:

Healing gardens in Prisons in a couple paragraphs provides a wealth of information and references about prison gardens and landscaping.  One cited article in Journal of Mediterranean Ecology, “Designing Therapeutic Environments for Inmates and Prison Staff in the United States: Precedents and Contemporary Applications,” describes historical interest in prison gardening — including a wealthy newspaper editor, Charles Chapin, who murdered his wife, went to Sing-Sing, had his wealthy friends bribe the warden (my read of it) to build gardens and aviaries.  So, before the Department of Justice sends around the criminal arrest warrants, try to have your company lobby for prison gardens first, so you’ll have something to do once you get there.

Who Wrote a Thesis Part II seeks academic theses from those in the area, which is a great idea. Often academic theses never get the recognition they probably deserve.

In the area of therapeutic landscaping, I thought this thesis was really interesting:

Hebert, Bonnie B. (2003). “Design Guidelines of a Therapeutic Garden for Autistic Children.” Master of Landscape Architecture Thesis for Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.

• A cave-like structure is good for a sensory-integration break outside;
• To integrate movement sensory information, have a swing-set with varying “swingability” that the child could use a little at a time;
• For olfactory sensory information, use essential oils in progression, along with scented foliage.

I just noticed that this post and the last one are both about outdoor environments - perhaps that’s because I’ve been gardening lately. So here are some garden tips from the Swivelchair version of the Farmer’s almanac (e.g, SoCal version of Green Acres):

• Obviously, the soil here is silly-putty, so have a bunch of good soil delivered ;
• To save water, forget a lawn: a pallet of buff flagstone costs about $400-$500 delivered, for about 1.8 tons of stone (enough for about 10 x 10 flat on a sand base). Hint: even if you work out, do not move 1.8 tons of buff flagstone all by yourself;
• Use those curly hoses;
• What to plant?
  • Plant seeds from vegetables you buy at the organic grocery. Whole Foods heirloom tomatoes and red bell peppers germinate;
  • Lavender- Spanish, French or English? Plant English, hands down. It grows more slowly, but smells the best and has hirsuit silvery leaves. French lavender grows fast and smells ok, but gets too wood-like; and Spanish lavender smells like creosote, and has a rangey growth habit. Plus French lavender gets the pool filled with brown, spent, lavender flowers. Plus when the cats sit under the English lavender, they end up smelling good;
  • If you’re going to plant ornamental pomegranate anyway, you may as well plant a real pomegranate tree - ornamental pomegranate fruit is too weird to eat, and sort of a mess;
  • I don’t see what the big deal is with Meyer lemons;
  • Plant an aloe plant and break it open for wounds.
• Growing tips:
  • Go to Trader Joe’s and buy that Greek yogurt in the glass containers, and eat it, wash out the glass, and use those as mini-cloches when germinating those seeds;
  • Use 40 lb test weight nylon fishing line to string up vines, like sugar snap peas;
  • If you plant $50 lbs worth of bulbs, and then they’re gone, it’s the squirrels who seem to have grown chubbier;
  • A good place to plant a fig tree is near the the neighbors who have a bird-chasing dog;
  • Don’t plant Jacarandas at the top of a hill - when the Santa Anas come through, the trunk will snap in two;
  • If you look at parking lots that need paving in bad parts of town, you can find Jimson Weed growing (Datura sp .).