Celebrating the life-changing power of therapeutic horticulture and its practitioners worldwide

World Therapeutic Horticulture Day, 18th May, celebrates the power of gardening – and the practitioners who deliver these life-changing sessions and activities – to improve physical and mental wellbeing for individuals in many different settings. First celebrated in 2023, this is the fourth year in which Trellis have led the celebration of what therapeutic horticulture is achieving in many different countries across the world, including the UK, the United States, France, Italy, India, Nigeria, Sweden, the Dominican Republic and Croatia.

As part of this celebration, Trellis is holding a series of webinars in the week of 18th May, discussing the benefits of therapeutic horticulture in different age groups and cultural settings. In the first, Autumn Roesch-Marsh and Zoey Wang from Edinburgh University presented their research into delivering therapeutic horticulture in residential care homes in Scotland. They suggested that spending time in the garden, such as for tea breaks, should become part of the daily routine for the elderly and their carers, not an optional extra. This would benefit residents and carers, both through their response to being in nature and the opportunities for more person-centred social interactions that being in a garden offers.

Two further webinars later in the week discuss the benefits of therapeutic horticulture programmes among students at Florida University presented by Leah Diehl, and among people in Hong Kong and Vietnam, presented by Claudia Lai of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and VinUniversity, Vietnam. For further details see here.