By Jenny Mandt, Owner, Garden Coaching Solutions

Jenny Uglow, British biographer, historian, critic and publisher has a quote that is so appropriate for our times right now - “We may think that we are nurturing our garden, but of course it’s our garden that is nurturing us.” We are spending a lot of time at home right now and when we give our gardens some attention, they can add to our well-being in this time of great stress and fear. As the weather gradually improves, we will have opportunities to reap some benefits for our mental and physical health by getting out and gardening. With a little work, not only can gardens look better, but when we add certain plants, shrubs, and trees that can bring you year-round enjoyment and color, plus ease some stress, that’s a win-win!

I know there are many more benefits to gardening then I can mention in this article, but I thought I would touch on five that can help with my physical and mental wellbeing. Stress relieving and self-esteem building of garden, help with heart health, hand strength and dexterity, brain health, and help stave off depression. Whether you plant a small container on your patio, have a backyard vegetable garden, or a plot in a community garden (while maintaining your social distance), these less visible benefits can help fill us with peace and satisfaction.

A Dutch studyon this issue called “Gardening Promotes Neuroendocrine and Affective Restoration from Stress” done by Agnes E. Van Den Berg, Mariëtte H.G. Custers, which was published in June 2010. This study looked attwo groups of people who were asked to complete a task. One group gardened for 30 minutes and the other group read indoors. The gardening group not only felt better after 30 minutes of gardening, but they had lower cortisol levels as well compared to the reading group. Cortisol is the stress hormone that affects more than just mood. Higher levels of cortisol can be linked to poorer immune function, obesity, memory loss, and heart disease. Also think about how much satisfaction a person gets from raising a plant from seed to full flowering or fruit bearing.

Gardening can also be a way to get a moderate intensity workout each week while we stay at home. Another study I read, supports this notion in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. "Our findings are particularly important for older adults, because individuals in this age group tend, compared with other age groups, to spend a relatively greater proportion of their active day performing [routine activities] as they often find it difficult to achieve recommended exercise intensity levels. …Gardening and DIY can be as good as exercise for people over-60 because they increase overall energy expenditure – prolonged sitting drives down metabolic rate to the bare minimum, while standing up and physical activity increase it”. This study showed that regular gardening could cut stroke and heart attack risks by up to 30% for those people over 60. Being outdoors gardening for 10 minutes at midday is thought to help produce enough Vitamin D to reduce heart disease, osteoporosis and various cancers. Recent findings state that too much sitting and not enough physical activity is bad for our health, so getting out in the garden even for 15 minutes a day can benefit us.

Gardening can keep our hand muscles stay strong and agile as we age. Make sure you’re not doing too much weeding and working with your hands to cause strain. Changing up gardening tasks frequently and moving your body around comfortably can make a big difference. Using your left hand occasionally if you are right-handed and vice versa can keep your right brain/left brain connection stimulated, as well as not overtaxing one hand. Your brain also benefits from working in the garden. Gardening can build strength, endurance, dexterity, problem solving, learning, and good sensory awareness. Keeping your mind stimulated and critical functions working properly is important as we age.

My personal experience is that people have mentioned they get a real emotion boost from gardening. Not only does it give them a sense of immediate satisfaction for the work they have done but the physical activity, thinking about how to enact their plan and implement it, and being out in the fresh air, all contribute to their well-being and maybe even better sleep. Growing food, scented and flowering plants trees and shrubs can help stimulate all your senses. Once your project is completed, you can sit back in a comfy chair outside and appreciate all you have accomplished!

Now that you have heard some of the benefits gardening can provide, let’s focus on how to add plants in your garden so you have year-round color and interest. With this four-season approach, you can use any annuals, perennials, or container plantings to accomplish this. Think about adding not only flowering plants and shrubs but plants that can add interesting foliage and other features. To get started with your four-season garden, you’ll need to get at least 2 plants that flower together or add color or texture in each season. Right now, tulips are starting to bloom, and Forsythia are going strong. Bulbs are just the right way to get your Spring garden off to a good start – crocus, daffodils, Snowdrops, pansies can add instant color. Consider putting in shrubs and even trees that will do this as well like Spring Bouquet Viburnum, flowering quince, rhododendrons, azaleas, witch hazel, or a flowering cherry tree. There are so many Summer flowering plants to choose from it’s almost overwhelming. Some ideas for flowering plants would be daylilies, coneflower, zinnias, nasturtiums, Black Eyed Susan, Bee balm, lavender, or Gaura. Don’t forget the shrubs like Spirea, hydrangea, colorful barberries, or hardy gardenia. Some Fall favorites to plant are aster, ornamental grasses, Sedum “Autumn Joy” or “Rubrum”, chrysanthemums, plumbago, and don’t forget those beautiful Japanese maple trees. Winter can be a bit more challenging, but you can get some plants to give you enjoyment throughout the wet, grey months. Ornamental kale or cabbage, winter pansies, hellebore, winter blooming camellias, any shrub or tree that holds its berries (Beauty Berry, winter berry, Nandina domestica and cotoneater to name a few), yellow/red twig dogwood can really stand out in winter.

If this seems like too much, you can create containers with these elements in them year-round. You can put an evergreen in a pot with either perennials and annuals or switch out the annuals as they fade to update it with the changing seasons. You can also plant bulbs, mixed with summer and fall blooming plants in one pot, and they will all come up and bloom at their appropriate times. With a little bit of planning and some plants that you really like, you can create four season appeal and reap all the mental and physical benefits of a gardening job well done!

Check out my Facebook page for lots of plant suggestions at gardencoachjenny or articles on my website to give you ideas on all sorts of gardening topics https://www.gardencoachingsolutions.com. Happy Gardening!