Nature’s Rx: Build a Therapy Garden for Wellness

From calming your mood to elevating self-esteem, connecting with nature is much more than just a pleasant way to spend time. Our bodies crave the captivating colors, transporting scents, and soothing sounds. That’s why so many healthcare and wellness institutions have therapy gardens—outdoor spaces designed to promote physical, mental, and emotional health, healing, and well-being. 

Horticultural therapy is one of those cool, new-sounding activities that’s actually been around since ancient times. Think yoga, meditation, mindfulness. However, it was years before the first person—Dr. Benjamin Rush—documented the positive effects that working in a garden had on people. Just in case you missed his signature on the Declaration of Independence, he’s also known as the “Father of American Psychiatry,” according to the American Horticultural Therapy Association.  

The popularity of therapy gardens grew after WWII, when horticultural therapy was used to help treat hospitalized veterans. This is also when the practice broadened its application to more diagnoses and therapeutic options.  

Today, horticultural therapy gardens are used across a variety of rehabilitative, vocational, and community settings and, depending on their focus, can include a wide range of benefits.  

You can create one at home, too, with just a few pointers.

1. Determine your goals

Before you start designing your therapy garden, consider what you want to gain from it. Do you have a specific area to address? Here are some of the many benefits a therapeutic garden can offer: 

• Improving mood and self-esteem 
• Reducing stress and anxiety 
• Restoring and recharging your energy 
• Learning new skills or regaining lost skills 
• Helping improve memory and cognitive abilities 
• Strengthening language and problem-solving skills 
• Supporting task initiation and promoting curiosity 
• Increasing muscle strength, balance, and fine motor skills 
• Helping with balance and endurance 

2. Select your type of therapy garden

Within the category of therapy gardens, there are several types, each with a slightly different focus.

Find peace and recharge in a restorative garden. 

Designed around your psychological, physical, and social needs, a restorative garden draws out the therapeutic qualities we find in nature to create a space for a mental break, emotional recovery, and stress reduction. 

Common elements: Therapeutic, sensory-rich plants, a reflective water feature, shaded areas, inspirational quotes or poetry 

Stimulate and awaken your perceptions in a sensory garden. 

Creating a garden that excites your sense of sight, touch, smell, taste and sound is fun and enjoyable for all ages, but it can also spark creativity, promote relaxation, and even stimulate memory. For people who experience sensory differences, a sensory garden can be an especially welcoming place of calm. 

Common elements: Creative use of color and contrast, edible herbs and plants like mint or basil, different textures—from soft wooly plant leaves like lambs ear to smooth river stones—and ornamental grasses, wind chimes, or fountains for appealing sounds.

Promote physical and emotional health in a healing garden. 

While incorporating elements that appeal to your senses, healing gardens do so to create a sense of calm and serenity. They are tranquil spots that provide privacy and seclusion from everyday life, to aid in healing. Healing gardens might also include room for practicing tai chi, meditation, or yoga.  

Common elements: Plants chosen for their soothing appeal, aromatic herbs, local wildflowers, medicinal and sensory plants, water features, rock, and stone. 

Create a space for all ages and abilities in an enabling garden.

An enabling garden is designed to make sure everyone is truly welcome within. Sensory elements—like fragrant blooms, smooth rocks, textured foliage, gentle wind chimes, and burbling water features—can create calm and stimulate cognitive development. 

Common elements: Raised beds, smooth paths, adaptive tools and equipment...  

Support emotional and psychological balance in a meditative garden. 

Designed for quiet reflection, meditation gardens encourage introspection and mindfulness. They are typically serene and secluded, giving you a place to escape from the demands and sounds of everyday life and connect with nature. They may be especially beneficial for those experiencing life stressors. 

Common elements: Zen garden details, fragrant plants, evergreens, alcoves, comfortable seating, focal points, like a small sculpture or large rock, lanterns or string lights.

Heal along with nature in a rehabilitative garden.  

You aren’t the only one who benefits from a thoughtfully designed green space. Rehabilitative gardens serve a dual purpose, not just supporting your healing, but that of the environment as well. These gardens tend to feature native plants, and aim to forge a stronger sense of harmony between you, your community, and nature.  

Common elements: Native species that are fragrant and touchable, eco-friendly practices, habitats for local wildlife like birds, butterflies, and beneficial insects, seasonal interests, water features.

3. Pick a location 

You can create a horticultural therapy garden in your backyard (or front!), and make it as large or small, complex or simple as you like. Consider your space options, as well as these basic guidelines provided by the American Horticultural Therapy Association: 

• Wide and gently graded accessible entrances and paths 
• Raised planting beds and containers 
• A sensory-oriented plant selection focused on color, texture, and fragrance 
• Well-defined perimeters

4. Take maintenance and materials into account  

The last thing you want your therapy garden to become is a source of stress. Select plants and structures you’re comfortable maintaining. If you’re short on time or energy, choose easy, low-maintenance plants. If part of your plan is to create privacy, shrubs are a great way to do that while keeping your garden-care routine relatively hands-off. 

Having the right materials will help you create the perfect foundation for mental wellness. Choose plants you love, ones that make you smile or evoke memories—not just what’s on sale at the garden center. And be sure to support your plants with the right growing environment. Consider options like Miracle Gro® Raised Bed Soil and regular nutrition boosts with a fertilizer like Miracle-Gro® Shake ‘n Feed® All Purpose Plant Food to help your plants roots grow nice and strong by keeping them well-fed for up to 3 months. 

There is no single type of therapy garden or one way to create them. Have fun planning and building yours as you imagine the joy of having a spot, just steps from your door, where you can harness the healing power of plants.