Massachusetts’ Hope in Bloom is on a mission to grace the lives of breast cancer patients with flowers, gardens, and joy
Susan needed a garden… badly. She was on her sixth breast cancer recurrence; she was despondent, depressed, and drained. Susan could scarcely pull her daily life together, let alone dig into the Good Earth. But that’s when serendipity set in. Wandering the internet one afternoon, she found her way to a link for a Massachusetts nonprofit organization called Hope in Bloom. She went to their website, filled out an application, and started a chain of events that made her world blossom again.
An hour after she clicked the “send” button on her computer, Hope in Bloom was in touch. A few days later holding a bouquet of flowers in her hand, the director rang Susan’s doorbell for a prearranged interview. What could Susan handle? What were her dreams? What were her favorite colors? Not only could Hope in Bloom plant a garden in Susan’s backyard, but they would custom tailor it to her taste and needs.
Susan's new garden arbor is covered in clematis beside planted daylilies and hydrangeas.
Not long after spring’s arrival, Susan watched a dozen or more volunteers pull into her driveway with a truck filled with shrubs, perennials, and a bench. They unloaded shovels and wielded wheelbarrows. By nightfall, a garden was installed. The cost to Susan? Not a penny. Zero.
Hope in Bloom—the brainchild of Roberta Dehman Hershon—delivers similar magic to breast cancer patients several times a week. Ask Roberta how the organization she founded began, and she’ll dig way back into her childhood. “The real beginning,” Roberta says, “was when I was 7 and she was 8, and we met jumping rope.” She’s talking about her lifelong best friend, Beverly Eisenberg. “Her birthday was two days after mine. Her father used to say, ‘If you want to find Beverly, look for Roberta.’ We did everything together.” That’s the way it was for almost 50 years until Beverly succumbed to breast cancer—and suddenly, Roberta was alone. “It was 2005, and I didn’t know what to do with the grief,” she said.
Trained as a chef, once a journalist, and currently the owner of a public relations company, Roberta didn’t take long to pull Hope in Bloom together. By July of 2007, the nonprofit organization was installing its first garden. Since then, a hundred patients have received gardens. Anyone currently residing in Massachusetts and undergoing active treatment for breast cancer can apply to Hope in Bloom for a garden. Twenty-five percent of those gardens are indoor gardens, another 25 percent are patio container gardens comprised of six to 12 planters, and the remaining 50 percent are planted directly in the ground. The in-ground gardens typically measure about 12 by 12 feet and are composed of meticulously crafted, individually focused plantings and hardscape. Each garden is custom designed with the help of professionals who contribute their design services to the organization. They link with the cancer patients; they ask questions and talk about specifics before presenting the recipient with a final plan. Then Hope in Bloom furnishes plants and materials purchased through tax-deductible donations.
Those gardens have their work cut out for them. More than just a pretty façade, they impart “horticultural therapy” to everyone who comes in contact—not only the recipients but also their families and friends. As Susan puts it, “My garden is exquisite. It’s unbelievably beautiful.”
Indoor gardens often have small, contained fountains. Outdoor gardens include stonework, mulch, and care instructions. In addition to being planted by a small army of volunteers, help with maintenance is available during the garden’s initial season for those who are unable to tend the garden personally. The initiative is all carefully coordinated so the gift gives years of pleasure.
“When you’re diagnosed with breast cancer,” Susan explains, “you’re scared and sick. You don’t have the energy to garden. But nature gives so much. It gives beauty, oxygen, fragrance … It helps you choose life.” In Susan’s case, a miracle occurred. Thanks to incredible healthcare, amazing courage on her part, an indomitable spirit, and perhaps also due to the healing power of flowers, she is in remission.
An "after" shot of Susan's garden with blue hydrangeas and a garden bench
Susan’s story is just one of many upbeat sagas. Mothers tell Robertathat the garden is a place where their children can see them in a beautiful setting rather than grappling with trauma. It’s a place where they can sit before and after treatment sessions and be calmed by nature. It’s a sanctuary where they can refresh and feel the strength and hope of life.
When half the battle is coping, sometimes all it takes is a flower to refresh the spirit. Never doubt that planting a few seeds can help win the fight. For Emily Dickinson, hope was the thing with feathers. But for these breast cancer patients, hope is the thing with petals.
