The Glass Garden News - New York University Medical Center

The Glass Garden News
February 2004
ENID A. HAUPT GLASS GARDEN
Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine 400 East 34th Street New York, NY 10016 Phone: 212-263-6058 Fax: 212-263-2091
GLASS GARDEN WINTER
HOURS
Monday and Tuesday: 8:00 am – 3:30 pm
Wednesday through Friday:
8:00 am – 5:30 pm
Saturday and Sunday: 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm
The PlayGarden will remain open most
days until dark, weather permitting.
CALENDAR 2004
Thursday, March 18: Spring Plant Sale,
Tisch and Skirball Lobbies, 10 – 4
May: Budding Gardeners Class for
preschoolers. Sign up in Glass Garden.
Thursday, May 6: Mother's Day Plant Sale,
Tisch and Skirball Lobbies, 10 – 4
Sunday, June 6: Community Festival with
farm animals, Glass Garden, 11 – 3
Thursday, September 30: Fall Plant Sale,
Tisch and Skirball Lobbies, 10 – 4
LOCATION
The Glass Garden is located off the Rusk
Institute lobby at 400 East 34th Street,
between 1st Avenue and the East River, in
New York City. It is convenient to the
Lexington IRT local subway stop at 33rd
Street and Park Avenue, or to stops on the
M34, M15, or M16 city buses.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Tel: 212/263-6058 Fax: 212/263-2091
E-mail: glassgardenrusk@msnyuhealth.org
A FEW WORDS FROM THE DIRECTOR
NYU
Medical
Center
At this time of year, we look back at what we accomplished in the past year
and what we hope to do in the year ahead. This issue reviews some of the
highlights of 2003.
Nancy Chambers
YEAR IN REVIEW — 2003
Intern Training
2003 seemed like the “year of the intern.” The Glass Garden had 12 horticultural
therapy interns who began their practical training with us. Most of the interns were
students from the New York Botanic Garden, Horticultural Therapy Certificate
Program, and many are continuing their hours this year. In addition we had Chikako
Hara, a teacher from Japan, training with us for a year. Our programs and our
patients’ experience in the garden have been richer because of the exposure to so
many wonderful new individuals entering our profession.
Intensive Training
Last year we also ran a special intensive training program for a group of Master
Gardeners from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden who were initiating a horticultural
therapy program at a local
nursing home.
Vocational Training
In the course of 2003, in
collaboration with the Vocational
Services Department at
Rusk, we evaluated or trained
more than ten individuals
seeking employment. We were
pleased to place one of our
horticulture trainees in an
interior plantscape technician

Year in Review — 2003 continued
position in a company
in the New York
horticulture industry.
Horticultural
Therapy
Our intergenerational
greenhouse groups for
Rusk Institute patients
represented more than
3,500 hours of patient
contact,both adults and
children. In addition
we hosted 92 patients from the hospital psychiatric unit, 246
from the cardiac rehabilitation unit, 372 students in our
preschool education program, 94 in our new program on the
epilepsy unit, and more than 440 family members and
children on the pediatric acute care unit at the hospital.
Storytime Program
We had an exciting weekly “storytime” program for
community and preschool children. The children become
intensely involved with the books because of our fabulous
volunteer reader, Sheila Russo, a retired speech therapist.
Outreach Collaborations
We continued our collaboration with YAI, The City-As-School,
Project FIND and many other community groups – nursing
homes, schools, and healthcare facilities. At the request of the
State Department, we hosted a medical group from
GLASS GARDEN COMMUNITY FESTIVAL
June 1, 2003, the day of our Festival, was a rainy one, which
tested the creativity and ingenuity of Gwenn Fried,
horticultural therapist and Community Festival organizer.
Along with our furry farm animals, we had a huge pot-bellied
pig named Elvis who refused to move. The Festival was once
again a roaring success. More than 450 children, parents, staff,
and patients showed up with their rain slickers, boots and
umbrellas to have a great time.
My own grandchildren, ages three and five, came and
participated in all the activities. It was hard for them to pick a
favorite, but they faithfully followed Christina the clown
wherever she went. They knew good things were happening
around Christina. She made animal balloons for the children,
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Turkmenistan who wanted to learn more about horticultural
therapy.
Program Evaluation
Last August we initiated a survey of discharged patients to
assess the benefits and effects of our horticulture program
during their hospital stay. We will compile the results this
year, and here are some of the respondents’ comments:
“I was enchanted by the garden. I found it a place of
tranquility…”
“I do enjoy watching the plants I planted in your garden. And
now they are growing beautifully in my home.”
“Thank you for providing this aspect of therapy…”
“Perfect respite from hospital routine! Staff was like
unprescribed medicine.”
We are glad to have been
able to touch so many
people with our gardens
and activities.
Looking Forward
2004 promises to be an
exciting and challenging
year for all of us at the
Glass Garden. We thank
you for your kind and
generous support and
hope you visit us this year.
and taught the youngest ones to tap three times with a wand
and yell “abracadabra” at the right moment for magic to
happen.
The Glass Garden
staff, volunteers and
interns ran all the
activities and helped
hundreds of children
plant impatiens, make
pretend caterpillars
and decorate garden
markers. They painted
kids’ faces and

Glass Garden Community Festival continued
arms with flowers,
snakes, butterflies, spiders
and other creatures.
BUDDING GARDENERS
The trucks from Farm
on the Moo-ove, a
program of Green
Chimneys School in
Putnam County, pulled
up at 11 o’clock. My
Some neighborhood mothers asked us last April to organize a
gardening program for their three-year-old children. Thus
began our Budding Gardeners classes, a six-week, 12-session
program designed to introduce youngsters to the garden,
plants, soil and new explorations.
During each morning session, the children spent time
investigating the PlayGarden, searching for particular colored
flowers or specially shaped leaves. They checked on the
blueberries and looked for signs of insects and birds. Turning
over rocks is always exciting!
By the third session they were quite adept at planting — filling
their pots with soil, making a space for a plant, “tickling” its
roots, tucking it in and pressing the soil around it, adding water
‘til it came out the bottom, and writing a label. Because the
children were not yet four, some needed help writing!
grandson and I each got to carry in a two-week old baby goat
with its mother trailing behind. The two-month old baby
sheep were incredibly fuzzy, and the Farm also brought a huge
fancy rooster, fabulous hens, and lots of rabbits. The pigs, Elvis
and Tulip, were notable for their size and Elvis’ refusal to
budge. It was quite a sight to watch our staff trying to coax
reluctant giant pigs into the Garden.
Join us again at this year’s GLASS GARDEN COMMUNITY
FESTIVAL, Sunday, June 6, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, rain or
shine. FREE
They also planted in the PlayGarden’s vegetable patch, in
window boxes, and in pots to bring home. They often got to
taste the finished product. Peanuts, strawberries, corn,
peppers, tomatoes, mint, geraniums, begonias, and impatiens
were planted from seed, nut, cel-pack and small plant pots.
They learned how to wear gardening gloves, how to make soap,
decorate tee shirts, and make cards from pressed flowers for
Mother’s Day.
The program is fabulous! Many of the children came back for our
Fall six sessions to harvest,compost,dry herbs,arrange flowers in
pumpkins and plant
coffee beans, fig
seeds and Chinese
evergreens for home
windowsills. We are
starting classes again
this spring.
You can register
now for our Spring
2004 BUDDING
GARDENER classes.
They will take
place Tuesdays and
Thursdays from
10:30 – 11:30, May
18 through June 24.
CALL THE GAR-
DEN FOR DETAILS,
212-263-6058
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STAFF PROFILE: DONNA ARABIAN FAMILY ACTIVITY — SIGNS OF SPRING
Ask any of our staff or
volunteers what is their
preferred day to work in the
Garden and they will inevitably
choose the day Donna works.
Donna has been a part-time
horticultural therapist in our
program for over 12 years and
we all always have more fun
when she is around. Her
ebullient personality lights up
the Garden.
For years Donna gave us only one day a week, first as a
volunteer, then on staff, taking time off when each of her two
sons, Karl (13 years old) and “KR” (11 years old), were born.
This year, to our delight, Donna is coming two days a week to
work with the preschool program and with Rusk patients.
Aside from her clinical work with patients, Donna has always
been the person best able to arrange our plant collections into
dramatic displays. Her eye is impeccable and her background
in flower design and display has been invaluable to the
organization and beauty of our space. Donna thinks nothing
of ripping apart two or three benches to redisplay our
collections when seasons change and the plants need more, or
less, light. In addition, she makes sure that our sale plants are
always available to our visitors.
Donna’s degree is in horticulture and her experience is interior
plantscaping and floral design. But Donna has always been a
natural with people. In addition to gracing our program,
Donna works part-time at Terence Cardinal Cooke HealthCare
Center with multi-disabled adult clients, and with children at
North Shore University Hospital and Schneider Children’s
Hospital at Long Island Jewish.
Donna is a doer, not too good at resting. She makes quick
work of putting away large deliveries; she can repot a plant in
a trice; she can decorate six wreathes in minutes; and she
bakes cookies superbly!
The quality of our displays and high standards of our clinical
programming is a direct reflection of our staff, and Donna
stands tall among them.
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Basket of Grass
Materials:
small wicker basket with handle, about 4” in diameter and 4”
high
deep plastic liner, to line the basket
vermiculite or soil, available in small bags where planting
material are sold
grass seed, or wheat grass seed (health food stores)
water
Activity Steps:
put liner in basket
fill liner with vermiculite, or soil
fill with water to ½" below the top
sprinkle the seed across the top
put in a sunny window
add water regularly
as the grass grows, you can add decorations such as tiny
birds, bugs, or small easter eggs
Egg Heads
Materials:
small clay pot, 1" in diameter
straw or easter grass (from craft stores)
clean emptied eggshell with ¼ of the
top broken off
cotton balls
alfalfa seeds (health food stores)
Activity Steps:
1. decorate the clay pot with paint,
stickers,glitter,etc.
2. draw face on eggshell carefully with
permanent markers
3. fill the small clay pot loosely with straw
or easter grass
4. carefully, place the eggshell in the straw
5. gently fill the eggshell with wet cotton balls
6. sprinkle the top with alfalfa seeds
7. place in a sunny window
8. keep the cotton balls moist
9. watch the “hair” grow in a few days