Hi Brock,
The 2006 ASLA therapeutic gardens PPN newsletter reported that the Department of Veteran’s Affairs decided to incorporate healing gardens in all of their facilities nationwide, as they are being renovated (a lot of VA hospitals are really old). I think the old Soldiers and Sailors homes in England and France always had gardens–and I remember seeing Russian soldiers at the hospital in Potsdam sitting out in the park in their bathrobes on nice sunny days. (that was right after the Berlin Wall fell).
More recently, I got an email from a master gardener’s group in San Antonio that wanted to build a rehabilitation garden for veterans there–never heard if they got it off the ground, but the local county extension people can hook you up with the master gardeners.
Then there’s always Doonesbury, maybe you can write and suggest they put some gardens in that strip since they’re dealing with vets issues these days….
It’s an interesting topic. Hope you love it because you’ll be spending a lot of time with it for the next couple of years! good luck,
wendy meyer
