Improve health with your garden

Aug 10, 2007

MANY people love gardens, but very few know that a home garden is more than just adding beauty to a homestead. They can also be a source of medicine. By the way, medicinal plants can also enhance the garden beauty as many have colourful flowers.

By Aidah Nanyonjo

MANY people love gardens, but very few know that a home garden is more than just adding beauty to a homestead. They can also be a source of medicine. By the way, medicinal plants can also enhance the garden beauty as many have colourful flowers.

Having two to three different medicinal plants in your gardens can help you reduce on your hospital expenses. Betty Namayanja, a gardener and a landscape designer with Plants for Africa, says although medicinal plants like moringa, rubus pirunatus (nkenene) guava, justica botanica (muzuukizi), lantana camara (kayukiyuki) and syzgium cuminnii (jambura) are of wild origin, they can be ornamental in home gardens.

Apart from their edible fruits that are rich in vitamin A, B and C, the roots, barks, leaves and seeds treat various diseases.

Dr. Grace Nambatya of the Natural chemotherapeutics research laboratory, says: “Apart from the beauty plants add to the environment, medicinal plants play a vital role in poor communities where western medicines remain prohibitively expensive. Having such plants can improve the economic welfare of the home.”

“Research has shown that plants create a healthy environment. A walk through the gardens improves physical fitness and mental well-being of a person. Regular exposure to natural environment such as gardens can also help one to recover from stress.”

Nambatya says the increase in wild habitat destruction is causing the sources of medicine scarce, making it necessary for every home to have some medicinal plants in their gardens.

She says women should take more interest in having medicinal plants in their garden as they play a big role as primary health care givers in the family.

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