Science and gardens
Why plants and gardening make us feel better

Monty Don
Writer, gardener, and TV presenter

“I know from personal experience how gardening helps heal many mental and physical ills. When you are sad, a garden comforts. When you are humiliated or defeated, a garden consoles. When you are consumed by anxiety, it will soothe you, and when the world is a dark and bleak place, it shines a light to guide you on.”

As many of you know I walk in the woods as part of my healing process. Biophilia is a part of me, and probably you as you are reading this, but not everyone.

We need to educate those who don’t know just how an important integrator she is, what a powerful universal connector and healer she is.

Below is a list of academic papers, books, journal articles and other publications relating to the impact of gardens, gardening and green spaces on health and wellbeing for you to study and share.

Vibrant pink roses in a garden with blurred background of greenery and a person.

A report authored by Michelle Howarth, Alistair Griffiths, Anna da Silva, Richard Green.

British Journal of Community Nursing

Social prescribing: a natural community-based solution

Small brown bird, possibly a wren, perched on a branch with its beak open, surrounded by foliage.

A book by Kathy Willis CBE.

Bloomsbury Publishing

Good Nature

Pathway through a garden with trees, moss, and blooming flowers including purple and white blossoms.

A book authored by Richard Louv.

Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, New York, NY, U.S.A.

The Nature Principle

View through a window with a hanging light, showing mountains and flowers on the sill.

A report by Roger Ulrich

Science

View Through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery

Elderly man mowing lawn in garden near stone house, surrounded by colorful flowers and greenery.

A report authored by Lauriane Suyin Chalmin-Pui, Alistair Griffiths, Jenny Roe, Timothy Heaton, Ross Cameron.

Science Direct

Why garden? – Attitudes and the perceived health benefits of home gardening

Sunlit allium flowers in a garden setting with blurred background.

A report authored by Siân de Bella, Mathew White, Alistair Griffiths, Alison Darlow, Timothy Taylor, Benedict Wheeler, Rebecca Lovell.

Science Direct

“It made me feel brighter in myself”- The health and well-being impacts of a residential front garden horticultural intervention

Stone columns and archway of a covered walkway in Park Güell, Barcelona, surrounded by trees and palm trees.

A report by Bill Browning.

Terrapin Bright Green

14 Patterns of Biophilic Design

Child in a pink sweater petting a white cat in a grassy garden.

An article by Lara Cowan.

Thrive

Why Children Need Gardening