GARRY TIBBO

Garry Tibbo is an expert in self-sufficiency and self-reliance. At age 50, Garry was diagnosed with colon cancer. As a Certified Nutritionist who believes we have the ability to feed and heal ourselves with nourishment that is around us naturally, Garry was faced with a life-altering decision—whether or not to accept the conventional medical recommendations from his doctors. Because Garry avoids pharmaceuticals at all costs, preferring plants for food and medicine, he made a controversial choice to heal himself with his own faith-based diet. It is 15 years later, and Garry is cancer-free and thriving! He has dedicated his life to teaching others — including Canada's premier fashion stylist expert, Peter Papapetrou – who tells us how Garry helped him to overcome a dire diagnosis and live a healthy and vibrant life.

NITOBE MEMORIAL GARDEN

The practice of Shinrin-Yoku – also known as Forest Bathing – gained popularity in Japan in the 1950’s. Simply being immersed in nature (no you don't take your clothes off!} creates a host of long-lasting health benefits. Certified  Forest Therapy Guide Haida Bolton leads Japanese-Canadian performance artist Yayoi Hirano and host, Charlie Dobbin on a tactile trail adventure in the  Nitobe Memorial Garden in British Columbia to experience the power of nature. 

Finally, science catches up. Meet Dr. Melissa Lem, BC family physician and environmentalist who has been researching the nature-health connection for a  decade. Her scientific evidence-based MRI studies show the good that happens in the brain when the body is in nature. And as Director of the unique PaRX project that began in March 2021, Dr. Lem boasts of enrolling over 800 health care providers—mainly physicians—who are licensed to write “park prescriptions” with instruction to take a walk in nature instead of a pill as a  remedy for some patients with mental health issues.

ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS

Barbara McKean introduces the new space at the Burlington Royal Botanical Gardens with 250-300 different types of medicinal plants that are identified by name and grouped by the body systems that they treat. This unique global garden hones in on the multicultural aspects of healing plants and medicinal traditions around the world. It tells the story of the dependence of most of the world’s population on plants as primary health care, as well as the many ancient remedies that are standing up to time and today’s scientific research.

We meet Dr. Praveen Saxena whose research has explored the role of plants in connecting humans to our environment, health, consciousness, and spirituality for over 30 years.

WHISTLING GARDENS

Darren Heimbecker designed and built these unique gardens, now home to over 4,000 different plants including the world's largest public conifer collection. Darren describes how through the years, Whistling Gardens introduced the growing role of the natural world as a healing and wellness environment.

Lynda Van de Waal, a Guest Services volunteer at the gardens, shares a personal story of a life-altering series of events, including illness and the loss of a child, that tested her to the very core. It was only the healing magic of nature that finally helped transform her loss and grief into survival and recovery.

Lori Haskings-Barber, Certified Labyrinth Facilitator, designed a Labyrinth Walk to illustrate this ancient practice with many mental health and wellness benefits that she discovered after her own profound, moving personal experience of healing on her first walk following her mother’s passing..

CARRIGLIATH, ARBORETUM & GARDEN

Since the beginning of time, there is evidence that trees are sentient beings just like us—that they can feel pain, that they bleed when they are hurt or in danger, and that they can communicate those feelings by sending signals to each other.
Diana Beresford-Kroeger gives us some evidential examples of how she knows that is true with complete certainty. “As long as there’s a breath in my body,” she says, “I’ll try to save the forest and stop climate change.”

We visit Diana at Carrigliath – her vast farm in Ontario that is her living library and laboratory. As a scientist, Diana knows for certain that plants can heal us and reward both our own well-being and the health of the planet, through communication in nature that is undeniable. Diana is very clear that it is our responsibility to be aware of the gifts we’re given and that we must reciprocate... we take from the earth, and we must give back. She tells us how we can maintain that balance..

EVERGREEN BRICK WORKS

Bringing nature back to urban landscapes has been Evergreen’s vision. Geoff Cape explains how they have taken a decrepit industrial site with an amazing landscape, a factory and a quarry of mined shale and clay that they transformed into brick, and have restored a semblance of the past to a model for the flourishing city of the future.

At the core is the Children’s Garden designed by Cam Collyer and built to give children a deeper connection with nature. With easy access from the city, children come to run, explore, touch, and smell. Playing in the dirt gets them off their screens and into their bodies. They build structures in the Outdoor Workshop that teaches them about materials and gives them social skills and a sense of place. Their feeling of accomplishment is powerful. Families say it changes mental health.

TOFINO BOTANICAL GARDENS

Harvard-educated George Patterson founded Tofino Botanical Gardens in 1997 as a small 10-acre public garden in a remote village of 1,900 people. The lot was “raw” and undeveloped when he purchased it 33 years ago over the phone. He invited the community to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the garden and we learn how over the past couple of decades, he created a unique therapeutic self-help oasis. As he plans for his own retirement, he has now chosen to transfer the property back to its Indigenous original land dwellers.

Eli Enns is the visionary behind the rebirth of Tofino Botanical Gardens as they transition into an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) – lands and waters where Indigenous governments have the primary role in protecting and conserving ecosystems through Indigenous laws, governance, and knowledge systems. Tofino Botanical Gardens has become an emerging model of IPCA supported by billions of dollars from the Federal Government in Canada and will be studied as a role model for future like-minded projects. The gardens will be viewed as outdoor classrooms where the transfer of history will be taught from on generation to the next.

REFORD GARDENS

In 1995, Alexander Reford assumed the directorship of renowned Reford Gardens owned by his family for four generations. In December of 2021, he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada for his leadership in the Canadian horticultural community and for promoting both heritage and environmental conservation. Alexander sees a shift in integrating nature in people’s lives.

Under Alexander’s stewardship, a complete restoration of the gardens and historic buildings on the 100-acre property was undertaken, influenced in no small way by the archived daily garden diaries that Alexander’s great grandmother, Elsie Reford, kept for 30 years. Elsie had the vision for her garden while recuperating from major surgery, and the garden became her therapist, her church, and her solace. Now it serves others.

One of Reford Gardens’ unique gestures is welcoming “Farewell Travelers” – regular visitors to Reford Gardens who come at the end of their life experience to make a last visit to their place of peace. We also talk with Lead Gardener, Patricia Gallant who herself received a devastating diagnosis of colon cancer, and credits her remarkable recovery journey to being in nature. “Coming to work and seeing plant life evolve in spring was wonderfully curative and restorative.”

PRIVATE GARDEN

In the heart of a bustling big city is a phenomenal private garden of gorgeous flowers, luscious plants and towering trees that create a beautiful, peaceful, and calming oasis filled with serenity, tranquillity, and joy fuel artistic expression. This garden belongs to Marilyn Lightstone. Arguably a Canadian treasure, Marilyn is a multi-talented Renaissance woman and a multi-hyphenate actress-author-performer-popular Zoomer host and recognized Canadian artist. Marilyn holds sacred the time she spends in her splendid garden almost every day.

Six outdoor garden rooms, each with different feelings and atmospheres, were developed with the help of Marilyn’s Head Gardener, Matina Harpantidis, herself an artist who believes nature drives creativity and that being inspired by beauty and nature is not a myth. There is scientific research to support the notion that nature nourishes the creative soul. These garden rooms are truly a collaboration between art and nature.

SEASON FINALE

The collaborative series finale has an impressive cast of thought-leaders featured throughout this series, who weigh in on healing the earth and the environment through plant conservation.