reasons people use city parks in Sweden. He turned up the then-
surprising answer of psychological well-being. Then he met Ottosson.
“He told me the story about what he experienced and we started some
studies. We had wild plans of therapeutic gardens, how they should
look,” said Grahn, who grew up picking cloudberries and fishing for
trout and salmon in Lapland.
With funding from the university, they started a nearby therapy
garden complete with a glass-dome greenhouse, water features,
flower beds, vegetable fields, pathways and various small structures.
Grahn took me by on a gray May afternoon. The first thing that
greeted us was a cheerful red garden kitchen skirted by a wide deck
overlooking the small fields. Its motto could be the Emerson quote:
“The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the
suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am
not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me, and I to them.”
Based on what Grahn learned from Ottosson, the Kaplans and his own
empirical research, he believes an effective garden should incorporate
a number of elements ranging from safety to fascination to naturalism
to species diversity.
It was chilly out and drizzling, so Grahn ushered me into the
greenhouse, where therapist Anna-María Pálsdóttir plucked a few
leaves off a potted plant and brewed up some citron tea. She
explained that Alnarp’s standard treatment program runs twelve
weeks, like that of Branching Out, but the participants here come four
times a week for three hours each time. The Alnarp garden specializes
in treating patients with severe work-related stress. They are typically
on sick leave, in some cases for years (this being a country that offers
sick leave). They are very depressed, lethargic, antisocial and often
have other health problems as well. Most take a variety of
medications. By the time they get here, “they have cut off everything
except trying to stay alive,” Pálsdóttir said.
She described the typical progression of patients, and it resembles