Take deep breaths, slow down and leave your “to do” list behind.  Experience the therapeutic benefits of horticulture while planting bulbs which will bloom indoors with beautiful colors and fragrances during winter.  Feel calm and refreshed with positive energy by focusing on being in the moment and engaging your senses one at a time – sight, touch, sound, and smell – while interacting with sensory rich plant materials. 

Our New England Botanical Garden at Tower Hill class on January 28 at 1 pm will include an overview of the therapeutic benefits and power of horticulture to understand why and how it can be used personally, and for people of all ages and abilities.  We will discuss the difference between therapeutic horticulture and horticultural therapy.  You will learn about benefits including increased relaxation, decreased anxiety, stress relief, sensory stimulation, hope, improved cognitive abilities, engagement in life, connectedness, and physical exercise.  It will be clear how plants and the natural world give you support when life gets overwhelmingly busy or stressful.   We will spend approximately 40 minutes delving into this.

You will spend approximately 80 minutes exploring and discovering the amazing world of bulbs.  We will learn together about what a bulb is, the richness of ones that flower and bulbs that provide us with food.  Have you ever seen paperwhites or Amaryllis?  Different varieties of these will be available for you to choose to plant.  You will take them home to grow and watch the progress as the leaves and flowers appear.  These flowering bulbs will look lovely on your kitchen or dining room table, in a family room, as a welcome by your front door or to give as a gift.  Join Deborah Krause, Horticultural Therapist, in these relaxing sessions where you may leave with a smile, feeling of calm and peace, and pride in your creation.

$85 for NEBG members, $100 for nonmembers. Register at www.nebg.org