Campus News

November 2, 2010

Take Note

Plant sale helps horticultural therapy

The Wesley Woods Horticultural Therapy Fall Plant Sale is an opportunity to get organically grown herbs including rosemary, lavender and English thyme; willow-leaf ficus, dwarf ficus, ficus orientalis and banyan; and orchids, angel wing begonia philodendron baskets and jades.

The sale is Friday, Nov. 5 on the hospital’s greenhouse lawn at 3 p.m.

“Fall is a wonderful time of year to plant perennial herbs, trees and shrubs,” says Kirk Hines, horticultural therapist at the Wesley Woods Center. “The tropical plants being sold will need to be grown indoors.  As the weather warms next spring, they can either go outside as patio plants or enjoyed indoors as houseplants.”

  Hines, who founded the horticultural therapy program in 1993, says growing the plants helps patients in the healing process. This type of therapy can also help reintegrate patients into “an enjoyable pastime that they abandoned due to illness or injury. It’s a great way to provide physical activity and combat depression.”

“We inevitably end up with extra plants that are sold to Emory faculty, staff and students at very low prices” to raise funds needed by the program to purchase equipment and supplies, Hines says. 

Paper bags and handouts about plant care are available, and buyers can bring boxes or flats. “I am also happy to provide instruction at the sale,” he adds.  

“Our sale is not enormous, but the plants we grow are cultivated with care and are usually unique in some respect.  All are grown by the horticultural therapist, patients and volunteers in the HT program,” Hines says.  “If you have never visited the Wesley Woods campus, it is also a wonderful opportunity to see a hidden gem on the Emory campus.”

For more information, contact Kirk Hines

File Options

  • Print Icon Print