Freeholder Director Mark Caliguire (back row, third from right) and Freeholder Deputy Director Patricia Walsh (front row, center) take part in the Enabling Garden groundbreaking ceremony at RVCC.

Raritan Valley Community College, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Branchburg, broke ground on an Enabling Garden, October 1, at the College’s Branchburg Campus. The Rotary Club of Branchburg Foundation provided $3,500 of “seed money” for the 5,000 square-foot garden, which will be located next to RVCC’s Conference Center.

The Enabling Garden is one of several such gardens in Central New Jersey created as part of a partnership between Rotary International District 7510 (Central New Jersey) and Rutgers University and its entities, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) and Cooperative Extension.

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Photo courtesy of Laura DePrardo

Flowers have a positive impact on our lives.

A behavioral study conducted at Harvard University shows people feel more compassionate toward others, have less worry and anxiety, and feel less depressed when flowers are present. The history, and evidence-based studies on the benefits of flowers and plants continue to gain notoriety. It makes sense as we would not survive without plants. We wear and grow plants. We use plants to make medicine and many other health supplements. We use in sickness, and in sorrow. (more…)

Photo by: Ed Pagliarini

BRANCHBURG When doctors first diagnosed Laura DePrado with a brain tumor, she felt as if she had been set free. Then studying horticultural therapy at Rutgers University, DePrado said that it was only when she received the diagnosis that she truly felt motivated to celebrate and raise awareness about what she calls “the people-plant connection.”

Years later, DePrado, now a horticultural therapy practitioner and a Rotary District 7510 coordinator, helped break ground Thursday on an Enabling Garden at Raritan Valley Community College’s campus in the North Branch section of the township, an initiative brought about through partnerships with RVCC, Rutgers University and Eagle Scout Patrick O’Rourke of Pittstown.

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