Concurrent Sessions 10 | October 10, 2025 | 3:15 PM - 4:15 PM (PST)
Blossoming Together: Integrating Chinese Flower Culture into Community 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
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.
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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