Horticulture Therapy

This article describes big attractions to the once known as "Ornamental Gardens" as well as future plans for the Gardens.  Some attractions include a Garden for the Blind, a red caboose, and horticulture therapy in disabled and convict workers.

The article describes various ways in which the gardens are gaining laborous help that is untraditional at the time by creating horitculture therapy within the gardens for these workers.  This includes having mentally and physically disabled workers help in the gardens, having older convicts (average age of 55) from Columbia or convicts from a women's correction center also in Columbia, come help with the labor.

This article describes an interview with the gardens' founder, Dr. T. L. Senn, as he talks about expansion, specific garden relocations within the Horticulture Gardens, and future goals and ideas for the gardens.  He mentions how they hope to get more of the public to come visit as well as how many students at Clemson University are helping to work in the gardens.  There is a mention of different garden attractions in the article, including the Historical Gardens that harbor plants important in South Carolina's history.

This article talks about different features to the gardens and some of the past history of parts of the gardens itself, such as the plant Oconee Bells, the Hunt Cabin, and the Grist Mill.  It also mentions ways in which the gardens have expanded from the original 73 acres to 208 acres.

In the first few decades after the founding of the Gardens, there was an emphasis on the use of horticulture therapy at the time. The Gardens' founder, Clemson University professor Dr. T. L. Senn, was a professor of horticulture who studied the correlation between horticulture therapy and its recipient. Because of this, Senn brought horticulture therapy into the Gardens as its director, and he shaped a strong foundation of love and care between people and plants who visited.

In particular, Senn implemented different specialized gardens and programs that emphasized horticulture therapy. One such garden was the Garden for the Blind, which offered braille description plaques of plants and flowers, ropes lining all sides of the pathways for the garden, and a strong emphasis on touching all of the flowers and plants exhibited there to truly connect with the inner self and nature. The Garden for the Blind existed for several years, though it is no longer around. [1]

Senn also implemented horticulture therapy work and volunteer opportunities for the mentally and physically disabled in the community. These were often fully grown, impaired workers who would help plant and garden as needed and would be allowed to work as long and often as they wished. Senn also implemented another similar volunteer and worker program in the Gardens, but this one was for convicts. The convicts came from two centers in Columbia, SC where they would work in areas around the gardens for the day or several days at a time, periodically returning to continue further work. For both programs, there was a mix of men and women helping to work in the gardens to allow for more inclusivity for horticulture therapy. [2]

The only volunteer programs at work today are partnered with Clemson University at the South Carolina Botanical Garden, where volunteers go through a rigorous, many weeks training and working at the Garden and earn a certificate in Horticulture by the end. There are no other emphasized horticulture therapy programs at the Garden now, though many may find it therapeutic walking through the Garden itself and along its many trails, getting lost in gentle thoughts as a beautiful expanse of trees, flowers, and plants surround oneself like a gentle blanket. Simply because the Garden no longer offers or emphasizes horticulture therapy in its programs, it does not mean visitors today cannot find a sense of comfort and therapeutic qualities in the Garden.

[1] "Clemson Gardens Are Big Attraction"

[2] "Hope And Love Grow In Gardens Cared For By Handicapped in S.C."