We are all well acquainted with the idea that gardening, as an activity, helps our mental and physical health tremendously.
This month, the world’s largest flower show, The Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival 2022, will celebrate the healing power of gardening.
Search trends from this past month also suggest that people are considering more holistic ways to combat their mental health struggles, as Google Trends show a 55% increase in searches for plants that help with anxiety.
Luxury Gazebo and Garden Room Retailers, Crown Pavilions, has shared below some of the most well-known benefits of being surrounded by plants.
They help with concentration, focus and overall happiness
People who spend time around plants perform better in the office and home. Researchers have found that tasks performed under the calming influence of nature are more accurate and efficiently executed. In addition, being outside in nature can boost memory performance and attention span by 20%.
So you have to quite literally stop and smell the roses. According to a study where office workers were exposed to pink roses, results showed that they brought significant physiological and psychological relaxing effects to the participants.
“Roses are among the most beautiful and versatile garden plants. From patio roses to shrub roses, ramblers, and climbers, they come in many varieties. To thrive, most roses need full sun and heavy soil.” Luke Dejahang, CEO of Crown Pavilions.
They provide escapism
Whether it’s from our job, daily chores or any responsibility we might have, we all need to escape reality once in a while. Taking care of plants can be a great activity to break up a mundane routine and add colour to our lives.
It’s also been suggested that getting our hands dirty and working with soil makes us happier. A 2007 study found a bacterium in soil called Mycobacterium vaccae triggers the release of serotonin, which is the hormone that is responsible for elevating moods and reducing anxiety.
“For your plants to thrive it’s important to understand your soil type. Sandy soils have predominantly large particle size grains, while clay soils are sticky and prone to water-logging. The best type of soil is somewhere in between – approximately equal parts of sand silt and clay particles to give a good, crumbly, workable soil that also has good water retention and nutrient holding capacity.”
They encourage you to be more active
Instead of a spenny gym membership, you could switch to garden work outs in the summer to get a dose of vitamin D and literally a breath of fresh air. In fact, the Covid-19 pandemic led a lot of us to work out in our gardens thanks to the availability of virtual work outs and many of us have kept this up. Your garden isn’t just a good space for skipping and jumping around though. With the right plants, it’s a great place to unwind and stretch.
It’s also been suggested that when more than one of your senses are engaged (the feeling of the sun on your shoulders and the scent of roses in your garden), you are more likely to feel relaxed.
“Having a visually appealing garden can make it a perfect space for outdoor exercises like yoga for a calming atmosphere in the summer. However, British weather might not always be ideal, so we recommend creating a sacred space and the perfect retreat away from the business of everyday life – like a yoga room or if you’re on a budget, a Crown Pavilions gazebo can give you some shelter whilst you practise your flow.”
They help in forming better relationships with others
There is a correlation between growing ornamental plants and feelings of compassion. Interestingly, people who spend more time in nature are much more likely to care for others and develop better social relationships. Researchers have found that time spent in nature makes us feel connected to one another and to the world. And we need more of that in the hustle and bustle of this crazy world.
Having a unique space such as a garden room that the whole family can enjoy socializing in, or use and an escape from time to time, would be a fantastic opportunity to foster mindfulness and wellbeing.
Sometimes failure teaches you more than success
Sometimes plants just die, no matter how much you took care of them. Or maybe you made a mistake, forgot to water them or didn’t provide them with the right environment to thrive. This teaches us to let go of our expectations that things will always go our way. To accept that sometimes things don’t go quite as smoothly as we might like them to. That’s okay, cause next time the grass will be greener because we learned how to water it.