Bloedel Reserve - a Healing Garden

Bench along a path at Bloedel Reserve

This morning I found the perfect healing garden: the Bloedel Reserve. I spent a few hours on the grounds walking the soft bark-covered trails. It was magical and I felt that if ever there were a healing garden, this is it; I felt at peace.

I'm not the only one who thinks that. While I was at the visitor center I bumped into Sally Schauman, FASLA. She was doing research for a talk she is going to give tomorrow night called "Healing in Nature". She told me that Prentice Bloedel (the founder) created a healing garden before people ever talked about such things.

I wish I could hear Sally's talk but unfortunately we are flying back to Missouri in the morning. Perhaps I can get the text of the speech to share on this blog.

The person who has implemented the vision of Mr. Bloedel is Richard Brown. Dick is the Executive Director of the Reserve and has managed it for more than two decades. Recently when accepting the 2008 Award for Garden Excellence, Dick said:

It is a place, unlike most public gardens, that minimizes its messages to its visitors. Rather, it provides a high-quality environment within which the visitors are given ample opportunity to receive messages from nature.

That message came through loud and clear today!

Note: FASLA means Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects

Comments

[Beth Worthington]

I think anything that helps us reconnect to nature heals us.