January 21, 2025
The Therapeutic Benefits of Working with Plants
By Kelly Flynn, MS, Garden and Landscape Manager at Hopewell
In the heart of every therapeutic community lies a shared goal: fostering healing, growth, resilience, and connection. For individuals navigating the complexities of mental illness, the path to recovery might extend beyond traditional therapies. As we learn more about the many forms of mental illness, these non-traditional therapies are justifiably, becoming a popular option. One innovative and humanistic approach is therapeutic horticulture.
What is Therapeutic Horticulture?
According to the American Horticultural Therapy Association, therapeutic horticulture is “the process through which participants enhance their well-being through active or passive involvement in plant and plant-related activities.” (1)
Historical Precedents
People’s positive relationship to plants goes all the way back to the beginning of our first major civilizations. There are records from as far back as 2000 BCE from Mesopotamia and Egypt that document the benefits of a simple walk through the garden. The first documentation of the therapeutic use of horticulture, however, was in 1100 BCE at a monastery in Clairvaux, France. At that monastery, they kept a garden specifically for hospice patients. In 1812, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania published research stating that compared to those who didn’t participate in gardening, patients who worked in the gardens there had better recovery rates from mania (as defined at that time) (2).
Therapeutic gardening and later, horticulture therapy hit its stride in the 20th century. In the 1940s and 50s, Veterans Administration hospitals used on-site gardens to help with rehabilitation efforts. In the process, therapeutic horticulture started to become more widely known and used (1). In the 1970s, the American Horticulture Therapy Association was founded, validating therapeutic horticulture as a professional field of work with guidelines and certifications to become a Horticultural Therapist.
The Benefits of Therapeutic Horticulture
The National Institute of Mental Health reports that more than one in five or 23.1% of adults live with mental illness in the United States. Of that number 6% are classified as having serious mental illness (4). With this increasingly high number of adults affected, research is continuously being done to discover and validate different modalities for treatment.
There has been increased interest in researching how horticulture can help individuals living with mental illness. More recently published studies continue to show statistical significance of the positive benefits of therapeutic horticulture. One study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that participants reported a decrease in stress and anxiety and an increased feeling of well-being, engagement and sense of meaningfulness and/or accomplishment (5). Another study, using participants with mental illness, specifically studied the effect of Horticultural Therapy on self-esteem. This study included participants with schizophrenia and Major Depression Disorder among others. They found that regardless of the participants’ diagnoses, self-esteem scores increased (6).
Along with the mental health benefits, there are physical and social benefits as well. Gardening itself can encourage increased physical activity. Moving mulch, weeding, and seeding for example, help refine both gross and fine motor skills respectively. Depending on the time of year, individuals can benefit from being out in the sun; lowering blood pressure and increasing vitamin D levels (7). At Hopewell we farm produce on a ¼ of an acre. This might seem small but once the weeds start sprouting, it’s “all hands-on deck.” Gardening naturally fosters social interaction and communication. Gardening at Hopewell is a team effort. This teamwork helps build a sense of community and can increase an individual’s communication skills.
There is a wonderful acronym from Sally Haskett, HTR at NC State Extension that summarizes how therapeutic horticulture can affect one’s mental health and social connections by using the word P.L.A.N.T.S:
P: Purposeful – taking part in meaningful experiences with useful results
L: Life Focus – Being mindful of life in the present and forward thinking
A: Acceptance – Being accepted by others and accepting ourselves
N: Nurturance – Giving back, caring for another living being
T: Together – Making connections to people and the world around us
S: Safety – Feeling comfort, familiarity and security (3)
Therapeutic horticulture is incredibly versatile making it an inclusive therapy modality. Through research, therapeutic horticulture is repeatedly being shown to help individuals in many positive ways. With every paper published we learn more about how working with plants helps individuals. This in turn helps fund future research into the subject and helps fund new horticulture programs. The impact of gardening and working with plants cannot be understated.
- AHTA (n.d.). Ahta definitions and positions. American Horticultural Therapy Association. https://www.ahta.org/ahta-definitions-and-positions
- Dinardo, M. F., DePrado, L., Polanin, N., & Flagler, J. (n.d.). Enabling gardens: The practical side of horticultural therapy. FS1208: Enabling Gardens: The Practical Side of Horticultural Therapy (Rutgers NJAES). https://njaes.rutgers.edu/fs1208/
- Hendrick, R. (2021, January 27). Therapeutic Horticulture- Master Gardeners Filling a Gap. https://mastergardener.osu.edu/sites/mgv/files/imce/OSU EMG TH Presentation_Hendrick.pdf
- n/a. (n.d.). Mental illness. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness
- Siu, A.M., Kam, M.C., & Mok, I. (2020). Horticultural Therapy Program for People with Mental Illness: A Mixed-Method Evaluation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17.
- Subagyo, W., & Wahyuningsih, D. (2024). The Effect of Horticultural Therapy on Increased Self-Esteem for Mental Disorders in the Community. IIUM Medical Journal Malaysia.
- Thompson R. Gardening for health: a regular dose of gardening. Clin Med (Lond). 2018 Jun;18(3):201-205. doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.18-3-201. PMID: 29858428; PMCID: PMC6334070.
