Story ideas come from a gazillion sources, a snippet of conversation, a news item, a photograph, an interview, a memory. The core of Planting Hope came from a friend. She was passionate about gardens, about permaculture, about rain tanks, and native bees, about growing vegetables and surrounding them with flowers, but equally she believed in the healing power of gardens—working in them or just being in them.
A few years before her death at a young age from a rare disease called Antisynthetase, she commissioned a landscape architect to redesign her smallish front suburban yard using permaculture methods. He incorporated used items into his designs, such as old cement tubs, bits of wire, or mirror fragments. He encouraged creepy-crawly things, using nesting boxes, and hiding places for animals or insects to create habitat along with beauty. My friend used to sit in it for a while when she arrived home, a space between work and home, a space that allowed her to clear her mind and replenish her spirit. A place of healing bare metres from a busy road. She proved that was possible to me.
That was my starting point. But who would I invite into this special garden.
I researched the use of healing gardens. There’s an enormous amount of literature on what’s called horticulture therapy. “Many studies show that after a stressful event, images of nature very quickly produce a calming effect. Within three to four minutes after viewing nature scenes, blood pressure, respiration rate, brain activity, and the production of stress hormones all decrease and mood improves.”
Sensory gardens make a difference. Gardens that engage the senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and sound. Colour is important; places to sit are important. The type of garden you choose might be based on whether or not you’re working with children, people dealing with grief, people with disabilities, people with dementia or older people.
So many goods flow from working in gardens. For a start plants don’t judge you. You can
- develop a sense of responsibility
- engage with other living things
- lift your happy hormones—exposure to green spaces has been proven to cause a dip in the levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which controls moods, memory and immunity
- be rewarded when your plants grow or you harvest a herb or food
- build exercise into your day
- learn to work with others.
I was starting to see possibilities. I went down rabbit holes and found myself in a labyrinth. I found a clue in the statement: you need to be destructive to be constructive in a garden. Paydirt!
There seems to be an epidemic of family abuse and violence in Australia, with a woman killed on average every week by her partner or former partner (2021). While many people devote their lives to helping victims, the scars are intergenerational. Could gardening help the children of these families to heal?
That’s the idea I’m exploring with Planting Hope. Carefully, because I’m writing romance. I’d love to know if you enjoyed my book.
Find me on
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/romanceauthorjen/
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jenniferrainesauthor
- Goodreads—https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22577889.Jennifer_Raines
- Bookbub – https://www.bookbub.com/search/authors?search=Jennifer%20Raines
- Diana Kathryn Plopa’s Indie Reads Aloud podcast has recordings of me reading Planting Hope (episode 101 – 23 June 2023), The Anderson Sisters (episode 54 Taylor’s Law and 80 Grace Under Fire) http://www.dkpwriter.com/indie-reads-aloud-podcast.html
You can also send me a message via the contact link on this site. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Jennifer Raines 