Love to garden, but can’t bend down like you used to? Do you have an injury that prevents you from tilling the earth?

Sigma Sigma Sigma, Metro State’s only Panhellenic sorority, is sponsoring a therapeutic gardening workshop on Monday, July 18 at 10 a.m. at the campus therapeutic garden located near 1015 Ninth Street Park.

The workshop will define therapeutic gardening and its benefits, as well as showcase different adaptive gardening techniques. It will feature demonstrations and talks by Metro State alumna Erin Pratte (’03, leisure studies) and Joy Harrison, administrative director of the American Horticultural Therapy Association (www.ahta.org). Pratte, a recipient of the Sigma Sigma Sigma therapeutic recreation stipend, developed tools and a presentation about therapeutic gardening as her undergraduate project. Impressed with Pratte’s idea, the sorority decided to adopt the garden and develop programs to help spread the word about therapeutic gardening throughout the campus and beyond.

The garden, with its raised beds, seating ledges and nearby flagstone surfaces, makes it easier for people in wheelchairs or walkers to access the flowers. Plus, the garden’s fountain treats visually impaired people to the bell-like sounds of flowing water. Although AHEC planted the garden this year, the hope is that students with disabilities will plant next year’s garden.

This is the first in a series of therapeutic gardening workshops planned by Sigma Sigma Sigma. For information, contact Tobey Stein, Tri Sig faculty advisor and Auraria librarian, 303-556-4458.