Concurrent Sessions 10 | October 10, 2025 | 3:15 PM - 4:15 PM (PST)
Blossoming Together: Integrating Chinese Flower Culture into Community Horticultural Therapy
Description
This proposal showcases research on the relationship between Chinese traditional flower culture and horticultural therapy, with a case study of Mei flower(prunus mume). It highlights the growing role of community horticultural therapy in China and presents an original video that integrates images and music of Mei flower， aiming to provide a detailed exploration of Mei flower culture and its potential to offer spiritual inspiration, comfort, and soothing effects in the process of horticultural therapy.
Speakers
Li Zheng, Ph.D.
Li Zheng, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, Member of the Graduate Education Supervision and Guidance Committee, Soochow University. From 2014 to 2016, Dr. Li Zheng conduct research in the United States, studying horticultural therapy and therapeutic garden design at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, and the Chicago Botanic Garden. In July 2015, she further explored the relationship between flowers and children's healthy development at Princeton University. She is also one of the key initiators and the first Secretary-General of the Horticultural Therapy Alliance of Asia (HTAA).
Lin Ji
Master's Student, Soochow University
Tong Zhu
Master's Student, Soochow University
School Sensory Gardens: Building Therapeutic Wellness Through Nature-Based Learning
Description
The MUSC Boeing Center for Children's Wellness and Clemson Cooperative Extension Service are leading a collaborative initiative to develop a comprehensive guide for K-12 schools to implement therapeutic sensory gardens. This evidence-based program combines horticultural therapy principles with educational objectives, supporting mental wellness for students and staff. Through pilot testing in twelve schools, the guide provides practical implementation strategies, maintenance protocols, and curriculum integration methods for sustainable school-based sensory spaces that are specific to the seasonal growing conditions of South Carolina.
Speakers
Carmen Ketron, MS, MPA
Carmen Ketron, Urban Horticulture Agent and Master Gardener Coordinator for Clemson University Extension Service, specializes in developing and managing garden spaces that promote social-emotional learning. With experience developing therapeutic programs at MUSC and throughout South Carolina, Carmen combines her environmental science background with practical expertise in garden design. Her innovative approach to ecological placemaking has equipped educators with frameworks for creating garden spaces that support emotional regulation and mindfulness in K-12 settings. Carmen's presentation offers practical guidelines for implementing sensory gardens as outdoor classrooms for social-emotional development.
Noni Langford
Noni Langford serves as Special Projects Coordinator and Pocket Urban Farm Manager at the Medical University of South Carolina. With a degree in Horticulture and certification in Horticultural Therapy, Noni delivers over 20 hours of therapeutic horticulture programming weekly across diverse populations. She manages campus accessibility projects, educates on nutrition-health connections, serves on the MUSC Arboretum Board, and recently secured funding for a food forest at the Institute of Psychiatry. Noni teaches the College of Medicine Humanities elective annually and operates a residential design company for coastal homes when not fulfilling her MUSC responsibilities.
Meet Me at the Garden: Horticultural Therapy for Dementias.
Description
Family caregivers of persons living with Alzheimer’s disease (PLWAD) often experience high mental and physical stress, affecting relationships with the loved ones they care for. This strain progresses with the disease. Exposure to nature reduces stress and improves quality of life. Meet Me at the Garden (MMATG), a collaborative horticultural workshop, was designed to reduce stress, improve caregiver-PLWAD closeness, and improve quality of life using horticultural therapy and hands-on, nature-based activities.
Speaker
Lydia Burton, MPH
Lydia Burton (MPH) is pursuing a Ph.D. in Horticultural Therapy with intent to provide healing, adaptable, holistic services to older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia as well as their care partners. Lydia is the co-creator of Meet Me at the Garden, a collaborative horticultural therapy program that utilizes horticultural therapy practices to strengthen family relationships and improve quality of life. She, like all her team at the UGA Cognitive Aging Research and Education Center, has been personally touched by dementia and has dedicated herself to bettering the lives of older adults.
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