A Garden To Heal

After years of careful planning, Powell Place’s healing garden is now up and running, providing women with a safe, green sanctuary.

It’s a busy day at The Bloom Group’s Powell Place Women’s Shelter. About 15 people are milling about the shelter’s courtyard clad in old sweaters and jeans, soil-crusted sneakers and gardening gloves.

“I think I can fit in another one of those,” says volunteer and healing garden expert Celeste Roberts kneeling in a flower bed. She grabs a plant with long, oval leaves and - with great care - lowers it into a small pit in the soil.

Celeste is one of the many volunteers who came out today to plant the shelter’s long-anticipated healing garden with the help of master gardeners, green designers and shelter staff.

About five hours later, it is done: all of the plants have found a home in one of the five flower beds and volunteers are sweeping soil from the walkways, stacking empty flower pots and clearing the area of shovels and spades that are scattered about.

The garden is officially ready for the shelter’s residents, homeless women who‘ve experienced a great deal of trauma, and who are now rebuilding their lives.

A garden to build community

Planting day had been long-anticipated by the residents, but also by the group behind this grassroots (pun intended) project.

The idea was conceived about three years ago, when a longtime Bloom Group supporter with a passion for gardening saw the potential for a new green space as part of the expanded Powell Place Women’s Shelter.

She enlisted green designers Marybeth Welty and Julia Meyer-MacLeod for the job, and generously provided some initial funding for the project.

“I really wanted to get involved when I heard about this project,” says Julia, who holds a degree in environmental science and design.

“Supporting women as well as people struggling with mental health, is near and dear to me, and I love working on projects where the focus is on how nature can help our bodies and minds.” - Julia Meyer-MacLeod

To make sure they designed a space that caters to the needs of shelter residents, Marybeth and Julia put much emphasis on working collaboratively. They consulted with shelter residents and staff, incorporating their feedback into the project.

“So often there’s a disconnect between designers, facilitators and the people who use and care for the garden. We wanted to make sure that doesn’t happen,” says sustainable design consultant Marybeth.

“We learned a lot from our conversations with the residents. It left me with so much more empathy and understanding for that community and really helped us design a garden that works for everyone.” - Marybeth Welty

A garden for the senses

To create a garden for the senses that can be seen, touched, smelled and listened to, Marybeth and Julia also relied on the expertise of a group of volunteers from the Vancouver Master Gardeners.

With their extensive knowledge of all things green, the gardeners helped pick out “the right plants for the right place”.

“We choose plants that are easy to care for, that grow different heights, or attract wildlife, such as butterflies and birds,” says master gardener Angela Deery.

Healing gardens, she says, have mushroomed over the last ten years in Vancouver — partly because of the increasing amount of research linking access to nature to people’s mental and physical well-being. Numerous studies have explored the benefits of therapeutic hospital gardens. Their findings show that green spaces are an important asset in helping patients recover from surgery or emotional and mental fatigue.

“It’s really important for anyone who struggles with mental wellness or any sort of illness to be in a space that is healing, to have a place that is a sanctuary,” Angela says.

“It’s amazing to work with people on a garden and see how it diffuses their tension and the pain.” - Angela Deery

A Garden that Provides Peace

Watching Powell Place residents interact with the new garden has been a delight for shelter coordinator Maroussia McRae.

The 52 women currently living at the shelter have shown an extraordinary level of interaction, love and care. From smoking to knitting, reading or enjoying a cup of tea: the garden is the residents’ new favourite spot to socialize or spend some quiet time.

“They really take pride in that space and are very protective of it. When they see something on the ground or when the plants don’t look so good, they immediately take care of it,“ Maroussia says.

While every woman’s story is unique, most of the shelter’s residents have experience some level of violence, abuse, addiction or mental health challenges. Providing these women with a safe space where they can relax and begin to heal from the traumatic experiences they’ve been through, is especially important in helping them to heal and rebuild their lives.

“A lot of women find the garden to be calming. It’s a place where they can forget what’s going on in that moment in their head or their body.” - Maroussia McRae

A Garden that Grows

Although the initial planting stage has wrapped up, the garden will continue to evolve and grow. Marybeth and Julia plan on staying involved in the project to provide consultation and training as needed. And shelter residents with the help of Maroussia are in the process of developing ideas to make full use of the garden and plan events that foster community.

“One of the things we talked about is having healing circles out there. I think it really shows how much the women here already made this space their own, and I can’t wait to see what other ideas they come up with.” - Maroussia McRae

A personal thank you from the Bloom Group team:

This project would not have been possible without help from our community. We would like to thank each and everyone of you for your overwhelming and generous support.

Renowned landscape architects PWL Architects provided invaluable pro bono project management services, including garden renderings and construction planning.

The Garden Club of Vancouver supported the project with a $12,500 grant, as did Hockey Helps the Homeless as part of their dedicated commitment year over year to investing in life-enhancing services at The Bloom Group’s women’s shelters. Canadian Tire and donor Scott Bierwiler provided gardening tools, while plants and trees were generously donated by Golden Spruce Nurseries, Van Belle Nurseries, Sidhu Nursery, Southlands Nursery and Gardenworks in North Vancouver.

Donations in memory of Sioux McLennan went towards a beautiful trellis designed by Kim Cooper. Donations were also made in memory of Marjorie Morningstar and Suman Kashyap-Sahjpaul.

A team from The Vancouver Master Gardeners provided advisement throughout the project, sourced materials and rolled up their sleeves alongside Julia and Marybeth on planting day. A crew of additional volunteers aided in the design charette, as well as marketing and outreach of the project.

And of course, Julia and Marybeth, garden designers, volunteered their vision, project management and oversight to the project from start to finish.

Thanks to everyone who made our garden grow!

(Anonymous Donor), Pam Allen, Kaity Allen, Jared Allen, Lesley Anderson, Judy Baldwin, Andrew Baldwin, Laura Baldwin, Nate Began (Pure Landscapes), Tom Bevan, Scott Bierwiler, Kristy Bolton, Grant Brumpton (PWL Architects), Canadian Tire, Michael Chang, Lily Chapnik, Jeannine Chuen Ping Lau, , Kim Cooper, Liz Cullen, Angela Deery, Sarah Dickie (PWL Architects), Anna Druet, Moya Drummond, Alison Field (City Spaces), The Garden Club of Vancouver, Gardenworks North Vancouver, Golden Spruce Nurseries, Patricia Gooch, Nancy Graham, Sylvia Gunnery, Marlo Hautea, Dee Keilholz, Hockey Helps the Homeless, Fran and Eve Herman, Megan Houghton, Jinny Jung, Raina Kim, Margie Knox, Klavdi Kukovic, Justine Little, Stephen Lownie, Pam Lucke, Lynne MacLennan, Alica Majercinova, Lanna Many Grey Horses, Maroussia McRae, Julie Meyer-MacLeod, Daphne Meyer-MacLeod, Cielo Nacpil, Heather Newsome, Joon Hee Park, Sidhu Nursery, Southlands Nursery, Einar Peetosutan, Nick Phillips, Brianna Reid, Celeste Roberts, Sophia Sengsuriya, Trudi Shymka, Nadia Slakov, David Stemler, Michele Sutherland, Elizabeth Taylor, Josh Taylor, Shafik Thobani, Van Belle Nurseries, The Vancouver Master Gardeners, Munir Velji, Mike Walz (Kinetic Construction), Marybeth Welty, Ken Wong (NSDA Architects), Taylor Woong Lee, Lee Yupitun, Katya (Yekaterina) Yushmanova (PWL Architects), Judy Zipursky.