For Dr. Maha Al Makhamreh (PhD'20), founder of Gardens 4 Joy, gardens have always been more than beautiful spaces. They are places to pause, reconnect with nature, reflect, and create meaningful moments with others. As a gardener who has been creating and savouring gardens for decades, and as a researcher whose doctoral dissertation explored well-being among doctoral students and supervisors, as well as its connection to nature, she has long understood the importance of the relationship between nature and well-being.
Maha’s connection to Queen’s helped bring these two interests together. She is a PhD alumna who began her program in 2015 and completed it in 2019, just before COVID-19 hit and everyday life shifted dramatically to virtual platforms such as Zoom.
During the period of social distancing, she saw it as a great opportunity for people to spend time outdoors and reconnect with nature. Yet she heard that some graduate students were spending even more hours in front of screens without taking proper breaks. That was disturbing news for her, especially since her PhD dissertation focused on doctoral students and their supervisors, the challenges they face, and the opportunities they can embrace.
Even early in her program, she noticed a disconnect between students and the beautiful natural environment surrounding them. She added that the demands of graduate school, if not managed well, could lead some students to focus almost entirely on their studies, completing their programs without ever taking the time to explore — or even discover — the many beautiful gardens on Queen’s campus and throughout Kingston. From a well-being and learning perspective, she sees this as a missed opportunity.
According to Maha, gardens are not only places of beauty; they also offer us an opportunity to reflect on what it takes to flourish. Gardeners understand that plants need the right conditions to thrive: water, sunlight, nourishing soil, support, care, patience, and commitment. They pay attention to what each plant needs and nurture it accordingly. She notes that the same is true for us. We need to understand what we need in order to flourish, be patient with ourselves, and remain committed to our own growth. Just as a garden needs care, attention, and the right conditions to flourish, so does our well-being. When we tend to ourselves with intention and patience, we create the conditions that allow us to grow, thrive, and become more fully who we are.
She always says, “Look at a flourishing garden and think about the things that helped it flourish, such as watering and weeding. Then, reflect on your own inner garden – your mind, heart, and soul. When you sow a strawberry seed and you water it, you’ll harvest strawberries. In the same way, when you plant a positive thought in your mind, you’ll harvest something good. Weeding is important for plants so that they can grow stronger and healthier. The same is true of negative thoughts: they can take over the mind and affect our well-being. We need to identify these thoughts and weed them out.”
After COVID was behind us and life gradually returned to normal, spending time outdoors and gathering in a garden without masks felt especially meaningful to Maha. She began to wonder how she could help graduate students reconnect with these spaces and create opportunities for the wider Queen’s community to experience the gardens in a more intentional way. That idea, fueled by her passion and informed by her research, was translated into an initiative in the spring of 2024 called Gardens 4 Joy. From the very beginning, Maha was fortunate to find many supportive and enthusiastic people and, most importantly, the love and encouragement of her family, who believed in her vision and helped bring it to life.
Maha’s love for gardens extends well beyond the Queen’s campus. Many years ago, she and her husband transformed their backyard into a fascinating oasis. They spend much of their time gardening, travelling, reading, and writing, but what matters most to them is gardening with their grandkids and creating beautiful moments together as a family. Gardens and gardening have become a passion for the entire family, one that continues to grow year after year. Whenever they travel, visiting gardens is always on their to-do list. One of their most recent garden visits was to the High Line in Manhattan. She found the experience both relaxing and inspiring, and it also offered new perspectives on landscape design and gardens, ideas she continues to explore in her own work.
This season, after organizing a series of popular and engaging events for the Queen’s community, Maha and her Gardens 4 Joy team are wrapping up the season with a three-day event, “Celebrating Nature & Queen’s Alumni,” taking place October 15, 16, and 17, 2026. The event brings together more than 20 enthusiastic photographers from the Queen’s community, who have captured 100 wonderful moments in the gardens with a clear message: “Let’s save and savour our nature.” The three-day event also includes a Harvest Festival, featuring opportunities to thank a farmer by writing a thank-you card, donate a produce basket to a local food bank, and participate in a variety of one-of-a-kind workshops, such as flower arrangements, lavender and rose distillation, perfume making, and growing mushrooms indoors.
It is worth mentioning that Homecoming is especially meaningful to Maha because it brings together many of the things she values most: family, nature, and community. This year’s Queen’s 100 Homecoming anniversary marks a special milestone for her family. She and her husband are celebrating all four of their children as proud Queen’s alumni. With their youngest son’s graduation in 2025, the entire family is now part of the Queen’s alumni community — a journey shaped by the hard work and dedication of her and her children, and made possible by the unwavering love, encouragement, and support of her husband. His steadfast support for his family was the foundation that made their success and achievements possible.
Maha states that celebrating Queen’s Homecoming is therefore not only about looking back. It is also about continuing to grow together, nurturing connections with nature, family, and community, and creating spaces where people can pause, connect, and flourish.
To see some of the moments Maha has captured in the plots and planters her Gardens 4 Joy team has cultivated in 2024, 2025, and 2026, visit the photography gallery.