PERIPHERALIA

The page number in the footer is not for bibliographic referencingwww.tandfonline.com/ojfp 36

The world can be divided into two types of people.  Outdoors 
people and Indoors people. In a similar way there are those 
of us who are gardeners and those who are not particularly 
interested in gardening or getting their hands into the soil, 
but who, nevertheless, like the look of a garden and will take 
a stroll in the outdoors on a sunny day.

For myself, I enjoy two of the great aimless activities of life – 
pottering and watering.  Others are deadheading the roses, 
raking  or sitting on the garden bench.  I also find leaning 
on my rake most satisfactory.  There are Master Gardeners 
but I have aspirations to be a Master Rake Leaner.  Rake 
leaning needs the right angle and also some advanced 
contemplating and gazing skills. Deep thoughts and reveries 
are optional. 

Some of the small satisfactions of life are bringing flowers 
that you have grown into the house and fetching your own 
tomatoes, lettuce and coriander for the evening meal’s salad.

A few years ago, I had part-time sessions at Town Hill 
psychiatric hospital and looked after the psychogeriatric unit.  
One of the wards was among trees near the perimeter of the 
hospital grounds and was appropriately named Peacehaven.  
It contained long-term female patients with a variety of 
psychiatric disorders, such as chronic schizophrenia as well 
as some patients with severe bipolar mood disorders who 
were awaiting placement.  

The occupational therapist and I decided to create a sensory 
garden1 outside the ward where there was a large tree 
and a rather run-down area where they kept the dustbins.  
We cleared the area and dug eight holes in a circle.  I then 
bought eight small shrubs from nurseries and we had a 
planting ceremony.  Eight of the more functional patients 
were assigned a shrub each and we helped them with the 
planting and then handed over the care to the individual 
patients.  They made up the labels for the plant names in 
the occupational therapy unit and painted them different 
colours.

I then bought a birdbath and a bird feeder and one of the 
patients who had some neurological deficit and an unsteady 
gait volunteered to fill the birdbath every day as part of her 
daily activities’ program and another was keen to keep the 
bird feeder supplied with bread and seed.  The garden soon 
became alive with weaver birds and little brown jobs (LBJs).  
There was a white concrete table and bench and the small 
garden was used not only by the patients but also by visiting 
relatives and by the staff on their breaks for tea and meals. 

We planted Butterfly bushes which grow to about five foot 
or more and produce lots of colourful flowers, which attract 
butterflies.  We also planted a Lion’s Ear (Leonotus) which 
comes out like a minaret with clusters of orange flowers 
in the late winter.  It attracts birds that enjoy its nectar.  In 
isiZulu it is called by the very appropriate name of Utshwala 
Bezinyoni, which means “the beer of the birds”.

The indigenous medicinal shrubs included African 
Wormwood (artemisia afra) which is used for coughs and 
colds.  It can also be put in socks for the treatment of sweaty 
feet (but remember to take it out again before putting the 
socks in the washing machine).

At the side was a small tree with very pungent aromatic 
leaves.  In Afrikaans it is called perdepisboom but I am not 
going to translate this into English as I know some of the 
readers have a delicate sensibility to these rather descriptive 
epithets.  It has the more elegant name in English of 
Horsewood (clausena anisata) and is a natural habitat for the 
Swallowtail butterfly. 

It is interesting to see the eyes of the patients and staff light 
up when they recognize the smells of the herbs from the 
crushed leaves.  This is known as “bright eyes” therapy used 
by occupational health workers to aid in connecting with 
patients with intermediate and advanced dementia. 

During medieval times, monasteries and hospitals had 
physic and medicinal gardens in which they grew curative 
herbs, and in more recent years there has been an upsurge 
in these sensory gardens.  They are often designed for the 
visually impaired, disabled patients, the elderly in retirement 
homes and for children with special needs.  

In gardening there is a reward as well in looking after our 
greatest patient –the planet. I am all for protecting the Big 
Five but one should also remember that, worldwide, our 
combined gardens are one of the biggest game reserves in 
the world and home to the Small Millions.

Reference

1.  Ellis C. A Sensory Garden. South African Medical Journal 2011;101(10):716

Chris Ellis is a family physician from Pietermaritzburg, 
KwaZulu-Natal

Email: cristobalellis@gmail.com

Garden therapy