Guided by Nature’s Healing Power: A Project Partners’ Meeting for Regional Green Space Development

12 December 2025

On 25–26 November 2025, the Interactive Gardens project team held a two-day meeting with Lithuanian partners in Klaipėda to review recent progress, exchange experiences, and plan the next steps in expanding meaningful green spaces across the region.

A Visit to the Botanical Garden – Ideas and Inspiration

The event began at the Klaipėda University Botanical Garden, where specialists presented plant collections, ongoing research, and educational programmes for children, young people, and adults. Partners discussed how green education solutions – from allotment gardening and medicinal plants to dendrological zones and interactive sessions – could be integrated into project activities.

The Courtyard of the Klaipėda Pedagogical Psychological Service – Beauty and Calm

Experts from the Klaipėda Pedagogical Psychological Service introduced their newly created Oriental-style courtyard and shared how the space is used to support emotional well-being, environmental therapy, and learning. Research conducted there revealed a highly positive response from the community: visitors developed new skills, deepened their knowledge of biodiversity, and described the garden as an exceptional aesthetic and calming experience. Most respondents noted that spending time in the courtyard strengthened their connection with nature, helped them relax, and improved their mood.

Nature in Biržai with a Double Healing Effect – Coming Next Year

The meeting also featured presentations on new green spaces being developed in Biržai, which will serve as living platforms for nature-based therapy and education.

The Biržai District Municipality is creating a quiet, restorative environment in Dauguvietis Park, next to the local hospital. The space will include benches, walking paths, flower beds, medicinal plant plots, informational stands, wind chimes, and more than fifty species of trees, shrubs, and perennials. Presentations highlighted that this area will not only offer a place to relax – it will also incorporate elements of aromatherapy, ecological education, and emotional well-being, inviting visitors to pause, feel, and experience nature’s calming presence while supporting faster recovery for patients.

Directorate of Auktaitija protected areas, Biržai Regional Park team is developing a new educational trail along Lake Širvėna and the Lilac Peninsula. The trail will become a hub for an active community: for walks, educational activities, nature discovery events, and well-being practices. Experts emphasised that the key goal is engagement—encouraging people to experience nature actively and directly

Together, these two emerging spaces will not only enhance urban greenery but also become places that foster community connection, emotional well-being, and ecological awareness. As Avicenna once said, “The physician has three tools—word, plant, and knife.” In Biržai, it is the plant that takes the lead—soothing, living, fragrant, and healing everyone who pauses to connect with it.

The Japanese Garden in Kretinga District – How a Garden Becomes a Cultural Magnet

On the second day, partners visited the largest Japanese Garden in Europe, located in Kretinga District. The site made a strong impression with its cultural authenticity, aesthetic harmony, and international cooperation.

Participants explored bonsai collections, ZEN rock gardens, and traditional Japanese landscape design elements. The visit offered inspiration on how visual aesthetics and cultural motifs can be meaningfully integrated into newly developed educational green spaces.

A Shared Path Forward

The two-day event strengthened cooperation among partners, highlighted successful practices from different regions, and underscored a shared ambition – to create green spaces that are sustainable, educational, community-focused, and supportive of both physical and psychological well-being.