Soothing space

Joseph Shanahan often leaves his bedroom windows open at night so he can listen to the waterfall in his pond nearby.

"It's so wonderful to hear running water," he says.

Gardeners often talk about how soothing the sound of moving water is and how working in their yards is a tension-relieving activity.

No stranger to stress as an emergency room physician, Joseph says that puttering around in his yard helps him downshift from the intensity of his profession.

"I thought gardening was work when I was a child," he says, "but when I became older, it changed to therapy. Now it's a love and a passion."