by Connie Oswald Stofko
Four years of planning and preparation have gone into the new outdoor Healing Garden, which was dedicated Sunday at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens by representatives of the Botanical Gardens, D’Youville College School of Pharmacy and Mercy Hospital of Buffalo, Part of Catholic Health.
Signs in the garden inform visitors about the medicinal properties of the plants, but the space also aims to be a place for meditation, contemplation and spiritual healing.
It was designed by Marla Wagner, who also designed the Botanical Gardens’ indoor Medicinal Garden. The Healing Garden will be open seasonally, March through October, and the indoor Medicinal Garden is open year round from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
The Healing Garden was constructed by volunteers from PLANT WNY, an organization of green industry professionals. Through their Leaf a Legacy project, they join together annually to give a facelift to a public space within Frederick Law Olmsted’s system of parks and parkways.
More plants will be added to the garden.
Artwork by Shayne Dark is currently on display in the Healing Garden through Oct. 4. A new artwork will be installed sometime after that exhibit has ended.
Watch the video below to get a glimpse of the new Healing Garden and to hear about some of the medicinal properties of common plants.
Nice video and interview Connie. I have not used garden plants medicinally, but do take a spoonful of honey everyday and eat an apple. Since doing this and being very sick last year at this time for two months, I have not had one day sick since then. I can’t say they have helped, but I believe they have.
Sometimes there can be some truth to those old sayings. Maybe eating an apple a day really can keep the doctor away.