Weekly News, 4.15.20
Dear Friends,
If you’re reading this, then we probably don’t have to convince you of the benefits of plants, landscaping and gardening. We think it’s important though, during this time when most of us are spending more time at home, to review and celebrate those benefits. Here’s what research shows plants do, beyond providing physical nourishment:
● Plants are therapeutic, counteracting stress and uncertainty
● Exposure to landscaping has been proven to speed recovery from illness
● The act of gardening supports social distancing and Stay-at-Home orders
● Gardening provides passive and active aerobic exercise as an alternative to sports and excessive media viewing
● When gardening, children engage all of the senses, learn science and math, and can develop speaking and writing skills
● Children learn life-sustaining skills, becoming stewards of their environment
● Gardening supports the development of gross and fine motor skills
Do you know someone making decisions about what’s essential and what’s not right now? Please share these findings with that local official. If anyone can use stress relief and a good reason to stay home it’s, well, all of us.
Learn more:a compendium of scientific research documenting the benefits of plants and the act of gardening is available here: https://ellisonchair.tamu.edu/benefitsofplants/
Please Help Now
As both a Greenhouse, Nursery and Floriculture and a Landscape business, we are deemed essential and thankfully allowed to continue operations. However, many of our colleagues in Pennsylvania are strictly a Retail Garden Center, which is not allowed to be open for business. Many local governments, as well as states such as California, Washington, Ohio, Connecticut, New York, and North Carolina, have explicitly classified garden centers as essential businesses because they are integral parts of the food supply chain, and especially now, for urgent need for the mental and physical health benefits that gardening offers. One of the few places it’s safe to be is in your own garden.
We are asking you to regard local family garden centers, greenhouses, and plant nurseries as “essential” businesses to support our community and your family, providing essential food security and services during these trying times. We urgently need your help to inform others such as your friends, relatives, co-workers, and community officials that you rely on your local garden centers for information and advice as well as for plants and growing supplies appropriate for your area.
Please follow this link https://www.change.org/openpagardencenters to sign PLNA’s petition to Governor Wolf asking him to reopen independent family-owned garden centers.
Thank you for your support. Don’t hesitate to reach out if we can help you in any way.
Take care,
Russ and Melanie
We won’t mince words. It’s an unsettling time. Thankfully, we’ve witnessed thousands of acts of kindness and help around our community and around the world. One way we can help each other and our communities be resilient and resourceful in these constantly changing and challenging conditions is to garden, and to support the local garden centers that sell food plants, seeds, and supplies.
