A sacred fig tree stands among a sea of flora in the Wilmot Botanical Gardens greenhouse, the kind under which the Buddha is said to have found enlightenment. It's adorned with colorful heart-shaped ornaments, each with a message of gratitude from a student whose life was impacted by the greenhouse's program.
When studying architecture in college, Leah Diehl, the 59-year-old director of the UF Student Therapeutic Horticulture Program, learned greenhouses had the potential to heal people. Her own brother, who suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child, found tending to plants meaningful, she said.
Diehl's brother uses a wheelchair and has lived in a residential facility for adults with developmental and physical disabilities for most of his life, where he frequented the greenhouse where Diehl worked. Up to that point, he and others at the facility had only been taken care of, not the other way around.
"When we are able to put people with particular disabilities … in the role of caretaking … that's a great thing," Diehl said. "We can return that sense of self-value to them."
Read more at The Independent Florida Alligator
