
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 3, 1991                   TAG: 9103040291
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: D-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN THE GARDEN/ GREENERY HATH CHARMS THAT SOOTHE

MORNING CHILL is still with us, but daytime turns milder. Daffodils are poking up. There's more daylight. In the spring, thoughts turn to gardening.

Why the yen to cultivate? Why set out flowers? Why plant vegetables when your time and labor will exceed the purchase cost at the market?

Yes, it's a hobby. So is woodworking or philately. But few take restorative strolls in carpentry shops or amid stamp collections. Gardens attract even those who wouldn't care to pick up a trowel, who don't appreciate art but enjoy the natural beauty of blooms and greenery. There's a mystique about them, as noted by Diane Relf in The Virginia Gardener, a publication of the Extension Service at Virginia Tech.

Just a walk around the yard offers a welcome change from the workaday world. But there's more to it than a distraction or a change of pace. Relf cites research at other universities indicating that patients recovered from surgery more quickly and with less medication if they could walk regularly in the garden or if - instead of looking out a hospital window at a brick wall - they could see plants. It's therapeutic.

There are various theories as to why this is so. Environment plays a part; often we like shrubs and flowers we associate with our childhood.

But studies have shown that even those without such influences are affected by the presence of plants. It appears that the appreciation of nature is rooted in our genes, planted there by evolution. Roger Ulrich of Texas A&M did a study of college students, under stress from an examination, who showed "increased positive feelings and reduced fear and anger" from viewing plants. Other studies by Ulrich, writes Relf, indicate that similar therapy lowers blood pressure and lessens muscle tension.

If the floral effect were dominant, jungles would be havens of pacifism. Still, it may be no coincidence that in a region known both for barren reaches of sand and for many bloody wars, a sprig of olive came to be a symbol of peace. We gladly contemplate that today. May many more of them bloom.

by CNB