All the Aids that Nature Can Afford: Horticulture, Healing, and Moral Reform in a Gilded Age Hospital

In this article, I analyze an assemblage of flowerpots to explore how the ideas of nature and civilization interacted with the treatment of insanity. Patients at the Western Washington Hospital for the insane participated in horticultural activities as a part of their treatment. From cultivating greenhouse plants to maintaining them on the wards, the hospital's horticultural regime immersed patients in a system governed by natural laws and rhythms, thereby fostering the self-esteem and discipline believed necessary to restore their sanity.