John Siegmund, landscape contractor and artist for Bonner Healing Garden (Bonner Hospice, Sandpoint, ID), recently sent me pictures of the new "Garden Stump." John conceived of the Stump by contemplating a Giant Sequoia such as the Redwood Tunnel Tree at Redwood National Park. John collected driftwood from the shores of a local log run and built this structure on site, underneath the old-growth cottonwood trees. This is meant to be a childrens fort but conveys the same sense of permanence as the Healing Garden's chapel, tea house, water wall, and rose garden due to the use of natural materials. All of the materials that compose John's structures convey a cycle of life theme.
Compare John's Stump with what he calls the "McDonald's Playhouse Features" below, which many landscape architects and healthcare administrators incorporate into therapeutic gardens. There is a tendency for designers to include plant labels, garden titles, folk art and abstract garden elements into therapeutic environments in order to engage patients and families. Sometimes, such features are appropriate, depending on the patient group. But in a hospice setting, the elements that facilitate emotional and spiritual well-being and support comfortable dying have a sense of ever-changing permanence and place.
John Siegmund is the most gifted contractor/designer/artist I know. He always sketches his designs on site, where he discovers an emotional connection to the endemic environment and interweaves it into his details. In my opinion, of the two-dozen healing environments I've visited, Bonner Healing Garden has the most distinct features, which are exemplary in their facilitation of hospice, family and community care. John continues to influence my design philosophy and I look forward to visiting with him again on my next pilgrimage to the Healing Garden!
