THAT GREEN THING INSIDE US ALL, JILL MAYS ON NURTURING NATURE, GARDENING FOR SPECIAL NEEDS
- Jennifer Jewell
- 19 hours ago
- 7 min read
As the summer gardening season rolls into full throated song, the idea of who has access to the work, joy, and benefits of this practice also comes into view – and feeds what Occupational Therapist and author, Jill Mays calls that "green thing inside of us all".
An occupational therapist by career and calling, over the course of her professional life, it has become more and more clear to Jill how many of the occupational therapy goals she set for her diversity of clients were well met by the diversity of activities, sensory stimulations, and social, mental, and physical benefits of gardening - preferably outside and in the company of others. Across her long career, she found herself in a garden – able to meet so many of her clients occupational therapy goals through the activities and benefits that the great outdoors and our relationship to plants and tending to them bring to us all.
After several years of developing gardening programs in her now-home town of Truro, MA, Jill has documented the journey of her work, research, and garden program designs for a wide range of special needs in her new book: "Nurturing Nature, A Guide to Gardening for Special Needs". Published in December of 2024, and it could not have come at a better time – a time when we all need the benefits of plants, tending to and living with them more than ever. Jill shares about how her occupational therapy and gardening experiential research kept accumulating and the crystallizing moments that brought her around to putting her work into book form, helping other people develop successful programs, increasing access to the world of the garden, and gardening.
Jill is also the author of "Your Child’s Motor Development Story", which explains the critical importance of sensory exploration and natural play for healthy development. Specializing in sensory integration for many years, she has conducted workshops in a variety of settings and provided consultation to parents, educators and health care providers.
She lives with her husband, Eric, dog and a flock of chickens at the far end of Cape Cod. And for the past ten years she has immersed herself in gardening, working with farmers and assisting in the development of children’s garden programs. She developed and currently leads a garden group for special needs adults.
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All photos courtesy of Jill Mays unless otherwise notes. All rights reserved.
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JOIN US again next week, when Guest host Abra lee is joined by Guina Hammond, an Education and Civic Engagement Project Manager for the Public Gardens Team at Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. a West Philadelphia native , Guina is a founding member of the Chester Avenue Community Garden, a PHS supported garden where she has grown award winning produce for the past 38 years! That's right here, next week. Listen in!
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Thinking out loud this week...
Hey, it's Jennifer—
Ahh, you know my ears perked up when I heard Jill refer to "that green thing inside us." It’s inside us all somewhere – at least experience in my life to date so far would indicate this: our love of food, of flowers, of woods, and fields – even as vistas. This whole conversation, Jill's garden, and therapeutic life journey are such great permission slips to get out to the garden or on the trail in the field more, more often, for longer….and with more people you love.
Do it now,
block time in your calendar, and prioritize this life practice the way you would anything else that is truly important to you : making a good dinner, reading a great book, reading a great book or playing ball with your kids, going to church or yoga or the gym, taking your vitamins.
Get outside and play with your plants for all of their affirming, and life-sustaining, and neurologically regulating qualities..….
How many ways can I say this: go outside and play with plants people!
And do it again tomorrow and the next day!
If there is ever a month for growth – May is that Girl!
In Public Growing Announcements this week:
In line with today’s conversation - The American Horticultural Society (AHS) have just introduced their new AHS Youth Sensory Gardening Manual, a free digital resource detailing how to create gardens to support children’s health. The manual was created by AHS in collaboration and authored by Dr. Amy Wagenfeld, a professor at the University of Washington and past presenter at the AHS National Children & Youth Garden Symposium.
Through an additional collaboration with Kids Cancer Connection, AHS will
provide over 200 hospitals throughout the country with the Youth Sensory Gardening Manual to support their efforts in children’s health. The generosity of Charlotte S. Bingham and the Anna I. Snyder Trust made this project possible. Well done AHS and partners.
“AHS is pleased to announce this new Youth Sensory Gardening Manual, which ensures that all children and young people can enjoy spending time in gardens and enjoy the health benefits from thoughtful outdoor spaces that feel comfortable to them.” said AHS President and CEO, Suzanne Laporte.
Using neuroscience, developmental theory, horticultural therapy, and garden design, this interdisciplinary manual establishes the specific health benefits derived from connecting with nature, followed by details of how the sensory systems enable those benefits. Readers explore each of the eight external and internal sensory systems to learn how people process each sense, sensory processing challenges, and how to support a range of sensory experiences and behaviors. The manual also addresses techniques for universal design and supporting all kinds of inclusion. The appendix includes tools for charting sensory gardening goals and building corresponding plants and materials palettes.
I am sure most of you also follow and listen to Joe Lamp'l of the Joe Gardener Show – did you see he hosted an ecological gardening summit online on May 7th ? It looked fabulous and I am guessing Joe will host more of these annually along with his regular organic gardening how-to classes available at joegardener.com. Follow him there or on IG @joegardener to get notifications about all of his organic, instructive, and heartfelt offerings to our garden world.
Here's another online offering I was so interested to see announced: The Ecological Wisdom of the Islamic Gardens of Paradise. Being held Sunday, May 25 · 6 - 7am PDT. Emma Clark, a specialist in Islamic gardens, art and architecture, lecturer and author of "The Art of the Islamic Garden", will examine the importance of Nature in the Qur’an and how the Qur’an demonstrates a profound understanding of the close relationship between humankind and the natural environment. All of us may learn from this
knowledge and understanding regardless of background, culture or creed.
The talk introduces the principal elements of the traditional Islamic garden, in particular the chahar-bagh (4–fold garden) form associated with the Gardens of Paradise, the jannat al-firdaus. The Qur’an’s descriptions of these Gardens are viewed as the chief source of inspiration for their varied representation on earth. The speaker explores how an understanding of the principal elements, together with their integral spiritual symbolism may shed light upon the inherent ecological wisdom of the Islamic Gardens of Paradise.
I love just about anything to do with gardens and gardeners being interdependent with religious traditions, whether is Rabbi Arthur Waskow talking about the role of plants in seasonal Jewish holy days, or the rose garden or garland ideal at the heart of the Catholic Rosary, the symbology of Bonsai, or the many beautiful planted labyrinths of the world. It’s a cool universal relationship – our spirits and our love of plants and living with them.
Over in the UK last week, Carl Gorham, the author, TV/ Radio writer,
and musician, published his new memoir, "My Life in a Garden" (Ireton Press), coinciding with National Gardening Week. Deeply moving, profoundly honest and highly comic, My Life in a Garden tells the true story of a widowed dad and his unique relationship with his garden. This wild, overgrown Norfolk plot guided Carl through bereavement, recovery and ultimate triumph, provided frustration and inspiration, a restorative, empathetic presence, a commercial outlet and even a pick-up line. Here Gorham learns how to tend to and tame, to cultivate and grow - not just his garden, but the seed of a new relationship. Sounds like a lovely addition to the garden memoir genre. I love them all.
Looking forward, Longwood Gardens just announced an upcoming conference of real interest later this year: entitled "Designing Change: Landscape Continuity In An Age of Uncertainty", will be held October 15 & 16.
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