Behind The Garden Wall: Kate Gleason Memorial Park, Beaufort, South Carolina

 

If you’ve spent fretful hours in a hospital bed or visited there with a sick friend or loved one, you might have taken time to rest in a hospital garden for meditation and reflection. But more than likely you didn’t even know one was on campus. When I was confined to hospitals a few years ago for a serious illness, the “wellness” gardens were immensely comforting to me. What was before unnoticed I now greatly appreciate.

Laken Brooks published an article in the May 29, 2021 issue of Forbes, Why Hospitals Are Planting Gardens, explaining the marvelous benefits of making nature accessible to patients and to those who attend them. In summary, “...medical professionals have found that as the plants grow, so too does the mental wellness of their patients.” I recommend it to you.

She notes, “A review in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health states, ‘Viewing nature has been repeatedly demonstrated to provide a range of benefits for human health and well-being. Benefits include reduced anxiety, reduced stress, shorter hospital stays, lower heart rate, and increased directed attention.’ That same review explains, ‘It has repeatedly been shown that the sounds of nature such as wind, water, and animals, are preferred over anthropogenic sounds such as traffic, recreational noise, and industrial noise ... Nature sounds have been used therapeutically to relieve stress.’” This is accomplished through gardens and horticultural therapy on site.

Since my healing, I’ve taken time to visit these nearly secret gardens in appreciation of the thoughtfulness of those who have taken care to establish and maintain them.

I recently visited the Kate Gleason Memorial Park on the campus of Beaufort Memorial Hospital, Beaufort, South Carolina. Though it’s not easily accessible to patients, it could be with some modification. In its current state, it does afford a peaceful place for visitors and hospital staff.

Beaufort Memorial Hospital was founded in 1944 and is situated on a bluff above the Intracoastal Waterway and the Beaufort River. That in itself presents a fabulous view from benches and picnic tables of the river, marsh and the town of Beaufort in the distance. Follow me to see what lies behind the garden wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Foundation Shrubs for Home Security

In my recent article, Ten Simple Landscaping Ideas for Home/Land Security, the first two safety precautions were: 

1. Choose low-growing foundation and border shrubs. (Low-profile shrubs require less pruning to keep them in bounds);
2. Prune foundation shrubs to 3 feet high. (This might be necessary if you are working with an existing planting.)

The reason should be obvious; home intruders prefer to do evil in secret than in plain view.

Here are two examples.

This one shows a clean foundation planting with few places to hide.

This one exhibits a foundation planting that practically hides the house.

Which home would you choose to burgle? (Don’t get any ideas, now. Google is watching you!)

Some examples of low-growing shrubs include:

• Dwarf yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria ‘Nana’),

  

  Dwarf yaupon holly

  
  

• Carissa holly (Ilex cornuta ‘Carissa’),
• Japanese holly (Ilex crenata ‘Helleri’),
• Dwarf nandina (Nandina domestica ‘Alba’, ‘Firepower’ or ‘Filamentosa’),
• Dwarf gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides 'Radicans'),
• Buddleia 'Blue Chip' (PP19991),
• Satsuki azaleas (Rhododendron indicum cvs),
• Miniature crape myrtles (Lagerstroemia hybrids such as ‘World’s Fair’, ‘Chickasaw’, ‘Pokomoke’, etc.),
• Bird’s Nest Spruce (Picea abies ‘Nidiformis’),

  

  Satsuki azaleas

• Ground cover junipers (J. procumbens ‘Nana’, J. horizontalis‘Wiltonii’, J. conferta ‘Blue Pacific’).

This is by no means an exhaustive list.

Don’t think that tall plants are always excluded. If they're narrow, they don't provide such good places to hide. Some fine examples include:

• Sky Pencil holly (Ilex crenata ‘Sky Pencil’),
• Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens),
• Columnar yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria ‘Will Fleming’).

  

  Sky Pencil holly

Foundation shrubs such as these will help to make your home a safer place for yourself and your family.

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