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Jenny Peterson – The Cancer Survivors Garden Companion

Ann and I were fortunate to interview Jenny Peterson, just after her new book was published. Jenny is an amazing, extremely positive lady who is an inspiration for us all.

A Garden that Heals
Pittsburgh, Pa. (October 5, 2015): When Jenny Peterson was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, it rocked her world. Her cancer treatment was hard, emotional and often deeply depressing. But Peterson, a garden designer and Master Gardener, did not let the cancer diagnosis define her. She used her desire to garden and dig in the dirt again to pull her out of the darkness. And she discovered that gardening is good medicine –for the body, mind and spirit.

The Cancer Survivor’s Garden Companion: Cultivating Hope, Healing and Joy in the Ground Beneath Your Feet
(St. Lynn’s Press, January 2016) tells Peterson’s story and explores the therapeutic benefits of this vital “earth connection,” including inspirational profiles of other cancer survivors, both men and women, whose gardens became their partners in healing.

With gentle empathy, beautiful photographs and easy how-to steps, Peterson shows others how to create their own backyard haven for healing – a personal restorative garden – with well-grounded guidance about diet, exercise, mental focus and spiritual renewal. Her book adds a fresh voice to the growing fields of horticultural therapy and therapeutic gardens.

What others are saying about The Cancer Survivor’s Garden Companion:

“Jenny’s tips for incorporating gardening into your life for mind, body, and spiritual health are ingenious! As a cancer coach, I will definitely be suggesting this book to my clients.” – Susan Gonzalez, BSN, CPCC, co-author of 100 Perks of Having Cancer Plus 100 Health Tips for Surviving It, and editor of The Savvy Sister blog
“Jenny’s beautiful book reminds us all that life can be found in the healing, meditative act of gardening. By lovingly tending a garden, we can learn to nurture ourselves, restoring our mind, body and spirit in the process.” – Ray Anne Evans, Executive Director, Breast Cancer Resource Centers of Texas

“Jenny’s connection with gardening, garden design, and simply being in nature remained strong throughout her cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. In fact, it was part of what helped her through. And now she is helping others to learn from her powerful experience.” – Naomi A. Sachs, Founding Director, Therapeutic Landscapes Network; co-author, Therapeutic Landscapes: An Evidence-Based Approach to Designing Healing Gardens and Restorative Outdoor Spaces

The Cancer Survivor’s Garden Companion will teach readers how to use the garden to heal, find hope and feel joy.

About the Author
Jenny Peterson is a landscape designer and Master Gardener specializing in xeriscaping and small urban spaces. She is a cancer survivor who found hope and healing in her garden, even during the darkest days of chemotherapy and radiation. In the process, she made deep connections with the cancer support community, including physicians, nutritionists, bodywork practitioners, psychologists and spiritual counselors. Peterson co-authored Indoor Plant Décor: The Design Stylebook for Houseplants (St. Lynn’s Press, 2013) with Kylee Baumle. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her fiancé, 19 chickens, two dogs, two quails and a goat.

You can listen to the interview here : Interviewing Jenny Peterson

If you would like to purchase the book : The Cancer Survivors Garden Companion

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Moments to remember over the years

Sailing

We all have moments that become pivotal in our lives. Setting us on a course that sets us on the journey to …….

Mine was learning to sail around the age of 9 years – well 8 years if you include the first time I went sailing. In what appeared to be a very slow gaff rigged, slow sailing boat.

Being shipped off to boarding school at a tender age. My father was a merchant ships Captain.

The school had a lake with a mixed fleet of dinghies. I learned to sail first in a Cadet – a small but lively dinghy you could race. Of course, we did with some success.

The school also had quite faster ‘Enterprise’s ‘ which provided a very pleasant afternoons racing, not to mention quite a workout…

Progressing to 420’s a much more modern design and an impressive workout. I preferred to helm, flying around on a trapeze whilst fun was a sure way to get soaked.

On leaving school, the opportunity to sail diminished somewhat until a friend who Ocean sailed invited me to crew on a Contessa 32, suddenly sailing became serious, a superb yacht with great handling characteristics, a rather steep new price back in 1979. A vessel still going strong today..

Field Hockey

When sailing wasn’t possible I played grass Hockey across London for over 25 years…it was a different level of energetic playing from September until April with tournaments across Europe in the summer, my favorites were trips to Hamburg and Amsterdam, although I did arrange one to Lyon which was a little different.

On moving to the USA in 1999, it took me a little while to rediscover lake sailing.- Lakes here are much larger , with commensurately larger sailing boats. It’s way more fun and convenient.

Sailboat Racing

Sailing over the weekend, a pastime that is both enjoyable, exciting, fun and yet very calming. The winds were as always very variable, around 10 mph gusting to perhaps 20mph – sufficient to heel our boat, driving her forward quickly.

Stiletto - Capri 25 — “Stiletto” – our Capri 25

The question is – how long can you keep the cocktail upright?

On a more peaceful run down the lake we talked about ‘Those Moments that stand out in your life”

Sedate Sailing

We still own ‘Stiletto’ but have added a rather more salubrious Catalina 28. ‘Quinley’ has many more creature comforts as our ages march onward. A galley, showers, a wheel, bimini, open transom, inboard diesel power, hot and cold pressurized water. all manner of instruments. Recently new sails and a bowsprit…

Work

When we reached work moments, some were amusing. I was asked to write them down. So here are a few. Let me know what you think ?

During college days we, that is the student committee – I was Social Secretary, liked to produce lighthearted pranks from time to time. Being Social Secretary it fell to me to help create, vet and often implement said pranks..

We often had outside groups visit the college for talks, or demonstrations or even just to visit.

This particular day, the Women’s Institute was coming for some reason, the day was warm and sunny, so the night before we decided to ‘decorate’ a crab apple on the lawn just outside the main house.

When the coach arrived the next morning the ladies were confronted with a new strain of ornamental fruiting tree – “The Spaghetti Tree” was fully covered with over 20 lbs of the very best spaghetti, soaked for 10 mins and boiled until soft enough to adorn the tree. The tree was also attracting a large colony of birds who took particular liking to the delicious fare.

Many pictures were taken of this phenomenon as a sign explained the tree only fruited once every 12 years !

This spurred on to more things horticultural, so a few weeks later yet another plant was discovered , this time outside the refectory a paving slab had been pushed up and a new strain of oak tree had emerged – Quercus australis inverta was indeed a site to see, this Upside Down Australian Oak Tree had it’s trunk buried in the ground with a full compliment of roots spreading out to a height of 5ft.

Some years later I came across this amazing tree…the Andansonia

As I have time I will add more such escapades.

Growing Trends new look and our first interview from a visit to China

Hello everyone, we hope you like our new logo ?

We have some great interviews planned for the next few months.

Our first is with Bill Sosinsky , CEO of Energime University. Bill has recently returned from a trip to China. He talks to us about how the Chinese are adapting, planning and coping with the enormous growth the country has seen over the past few years.

The interview is one of those must listen to events… we all have seen or heard of the Great Wall of China, a quite amazing feat of building, as seen here.

I wonder how many of us can comprehend the current building program? 100 million homes in the next 5- 10 years…!

Truly a monumental task of ingenuity, engineering and collaboration, Ann and I were just amazed talking to Bill about the growing issues they are trying to solve.

We will have two parts to this fascinating interview you can listen to the first part here – www.growingtrends.org

We would love to hear from you with ideas or suggestions on programs, either fill in the form below or just send us an email to info@grotrends.com

Ann & Chris

We would like to grow our team – could you help?

Ann & Chris have been busy preparing a new series of podcasts for you all to enjoy.

We have interviews with experts in the field of sustainability, recycling, food production, hydroponics and aquaponics. Our list of author interviews is growing all the time, we’ve recently added children’s book authors connected with nature.

You can hear them at Growing Trends

We would love to hear from you all with ideas and suggestions for interviews or articles.

Garden Centers are changing ……

Garden Centers are Changing.

In our second interview discussing the changing market for Garden Centers.

Ann visits Paris, France to talk to Valerie Langendorff, President of a Women’s Garden Executive Club.

Valerie looks at Garden Centers from the ladies perspective in France. Her ladies group have identified a number of interesting trends..

Women make 70% of the purchase decisions.

Currently 90% of Garden Centers are managed by men.

Their Executive Club have developed an annual awards program judged by women.

Ladies nights are arranged in the Garden Center – in our earlier interview we heard that a Garden Center in Switzerland had ‘Pole Dancing’ nights for ladies, as a way to exercise !

They have an award for the most women friendly Garden Center.

They have discovered that women like innovation more than men……

You can listen to this fascinating interview here or on iTunes

If I were to open a Garden Center today ?

Opening a Garden Center Today.

Garden Centers have evolved over the years. There are independent garden centers often in a local neighborhood. Then there are larger groups with multiple locations.

Many of the big box ‘Do it Yourself stores’ have larger and larger ‘Garden Center’ sections.

The question recently has been where are they all heading.

So Ann asked Sid & John – “If I were to open a Garden Center today what would be your recommendations?”

Our interview with Sid Raisch and John Stanley, two ‘guru’s of the industry may help to answer that question.

You can hear this fascinating interview at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

What do you think?

Ann & Chris would love to hear your views.

Today’s Public Parks

Today’s Public Parks

We were having a discussion about Parks the other day, the consensus was that whilst they are constantly evolving there was a need to include more of today’s more modern infrastructure within a park boundaries.

Do you think that is the case?

For instance – constant wifi?

24 hour video access to see wild life etc. ?

Adoption of solar energy , for example path lighting powered by solar ?

More group areas for meetings outside ?

More refreshment areas ?

Less grass areas ?

The addition of vegetable areas for people to try or see how to grow ?

More opportunities to show visitors how to do something?

What do you think?

We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas,

Ann & Chris

Growing Trends

The Chelsea Physic Garden – Linking people to plants and nature

It’s not often you find a garden that was founded in 1673.

The Apothecaries’ Garden.

Ann was on a trip to Europe recently and dropped in on the beautiful Chelsea Physic Garden on the side of the River Thames in London.

The gardens purpose was to train apprentices in identifying plants. Located close to the river Thames created a warmer microclimate, significantly increasing the many non-native plants that could be grown.

In 1700 the garden had started an international botanic garden seed exchange system, which continues to this day.

The gardens cover some four acres. They are leased on what is known as a peppercorn rent in perpetuity.

They are with out doubt one of London’s secret ‘gems’ and thoroughly worth a visit.

The gardens mission ” Linking people with plants and nature”

The interview starts with Ann talking for around 8 minutes to a group of school children on a field trip, the gardens have over 100 such visits a year.

Ann then talks to Michael a very knowledgeable and extremely helpful member of staff. We kept all the typical inner city sounds on the recording – the enthusiasm of the children is very heartening.

Integrated pest management is the preferred method of bug control…

They have a project called “Shelf Life’ it is just an incredible way to show children where their food comes from

You can listen to Ann’s interview on www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

Results of our poll regarding our eBook.

Landscape Knowledge eBook

First of all thank you for all the replies.

Let’s start with the written requests –

1. Could we add information about Green Walls?

The short answer is certainly, this fully structural Green Wall was designed and built by us in 1984, it won an award, happily we know quite a bit about green walls, designed to last around 50 years they do not require any tie-back as they are designed as a ‘gravity wall’ . We will add a chapter about the How to and Where best to use these lovely walls.

2. Composts, Native and Perennial plants ?

A little more adventurous, next to a small pond.

We may need to add another eBook for this, what we may well do is add more about Allergies with this rather broad topic.

3. Removing and replacing a lawn – right time of year, plus best ways to water establishing new planting?

We will add a chapter on lawns and how best to use them, if you are in an area of long standing drought it is often wise to consider an alternative. It rather depends on how much area is involved , how much impact will be made. The picture above shows an area that could easily be ‘planted’ with alternatives. Sometimes a small green space in a compact garden is beneficial to the overall feeling of space – green is after all a very significant colour, and probably the most important in nature.

So the top three requests were –

Help with Veggie Growing

An eBook for consumers.

Help with water conservation.

Ann and I have taken out our quill pens and started to scribe…..the first ebook will be free for all subscribers to our blog site.

If you would like to write to us with other requests please do..

Ann & Chris

Growing Trends – you can hear our latest interviews at www.growingtrends.org or on iTunes at Growing Trends

Heaven is a Garden

A few years ago I read a paper about how grasses ‘moved’ to music, then I read about the effects of harmonious sounds on plant growth.

Just using white summer bedding is very effective in such a large garden

Why do I mention this, well a few weeks ago we were talking about Tesla and his discoveries, which led us to talking about vibrations, sound waves, force fields etc., then a strange thing happened.

Ann and I interviewed a wonderful lady landscape architect Jan Johnsen, about her new book “Heaven is a Garden” we talked a little about how at a very young age she discovered during a science fair competition – which against all the odds she won – the effects early morning birds singing have on plants. The sound waves, which are similar to a violin stimulate a plant to open its stomata taking in carbon-dioxide to help it grow quicker.

Jan has written a new book called Heaven is a Garden, it’s a really fascinating and informative read. Jan has ‘connected’ the dots so as to speak, between the natural world and our emotions. How the Four Winds are important when laying out a space,the careful use of curves, and my favorite Golden Rectangles and the Divine Proportion. – Phi is the mathematical proportion ( 1 : 1.618) we see in every natural form. Using this proportion ensures a sense of harmony in any outdoor space that contains it. I’ve always tried to use these proportions in my designs.

Jan then talks about Trees – natures rechargers as she puts it… The Celts called it shunnache, the Hindu tree devas, and Greek dryads…the Japanese consider the health giving properties of trees the basis of a medical therapy called ‘ forest bathing’ .

Jan then discusses the magnetic attraction in a Zen garden – rocks in these gardens reflect a deep understanding of the geomagnetic properties of stone and its impact on a place.

Finally the benefits of color in a garden.

Be inspired by Jan Johnsen's Book — Be inspired by Jan Johnsen’s Book

You can listen to our truly fascinating interview with Jan Johnsen at www.growingtrends.org or if you prefer on iTunes at Growing Trends

We would love to hear from you our listeners