TALMAR was the brainchild of Catherine Murphy, a registered Horticultural Therapist (HTR), who sought to move horticultural therapy from institutionalized settings to open farm land. While horticultural therapy was practiced by ancient Persian and Mesopotamian cultures, it wasn’t introduced into American psychological practice until the 1800’s; a hospital in Philadelphia opened the first greenhouse for its psychiatric patients in the 1880’s. Ms. Murphy’s innovation was to move the practice from a greenhouse to open-air farm with the intent that participants would reap the benefits of not only horticultural therapy, but fresh air and the benefits of being in nature.

Ms. Murphy retired from TALMAR in 2019 after handing over the reins to Kate Joyce.