Good-for-You Gardening

Thanks to the generosity of Walt and Ginger Woltosz and other donors to the Russell Medical Foundation, a beautiful Serenity Garden will be dedicated this month in honor of Bruce and Brandy Pearl, whose AutLive initiative through the Bruce Pearl Family Foundation makes a generous yearly gift to the Cancer Center at Russell Medical. With the dedication looming, and because my editor assigned it, I began to ponder the health benefits of gardening. Not being a gardener myself – yet – I have no personal experience, but I was able to find some bona fide health benefits of playing in the dirt, as proven by an impressive list of scientific studies.

I know, for instance, that Auburn basketball coach (and our patron) Bruce Pearl enjoys gardening for the peace of mind and relaxation it brings him, and he has even hinted that he might like to take an active planting role in our new Serenity Garden, which gave me an excellent fundraising idea, quickly vetoed by our CEO Jim Peace. He said I could not sell tickets to watch Bruce gardening, nor could I sell autographed trowels or bags of “Pearl’s Peat Moss.”