By Lindsey Hamilton
This is Part 1 of a two-part series looking into horticultural therapy in the UK – its origins, practices as well as leading organizations and programs. Part 1 is intended as an overview of the UK horticultural landscape and where horticultural therapy fits in, while Part 2 will dive deeper into programs and practices.
National Treasure Monty Don
Living in the UK for the past two years has brought many new horticultural experiences and a tremendous amount of learning. As a newcomer to the UK, I’ve been amazed by the popular interest in and passion for gardening. It is almost ingrained in the culture here. In what other area of the world would you find a long-standing (currently in its 56th season) and beloved tv program entirely dedicated to gardening with a Friday night prime-time spot? Gardener’s World is an hour-long program on the BBC hosted by national treasure, Monty Don. This weekly program is dedicated to the love of home gardening with education, advice and inspiration shared across the seasons. There is also a monthly magazine, online content and live events hosted throughout the year – Gardener’s World is well-known enough that we might even consider the brand a part of popular culture.
At the same time, some of the most iconic and well-known gardens and botanical institutes in the world can be found here in the UK – Sissinghurst, Hidcote, Great Dixter and Beth Chatto’s Gardens are just a few of the great gardens that come to mind. There’s an entire National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens, which highlights landscapes of special historic interest. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Kew Gardens), and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), based at Wisley gardens, are viewed as global leaders in research and education as well as being beloved by visitors travelling to visit their spectacular gardens across England. A key event of the season is The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which has been held for over a century. Each year, over 160,000 enthusiasts gather at this event to see the latest and greatest in garden design, plants and all things horticulture and leave inspired to recreate some of the magic in their own gardens and communities.
How HT Fits Into the Landscape
Clearly, horticulture is not only a part of popular culture in the UK but also is a key economic force. A recent study by Oxford Economics and The Environmental Horticulture Group quantified the size of the broader horticultural sector, noting that in 2023:
- Tourists spent £4.2 billion (approx. $5.4 billion USD) visiting public parks, gardens, and green spaces
- Households spent £13.2 billion (approx. $16.9 billion USD on garden goods and £5.8 billion on professional gardening and landscaping services
- The horticultural sector employs 722,000 people
The overall horticultural industry is well developed and respected in the UK and considered to be a significant contributor to employment, economic growth and cultural capital. Given the importance and maturity of the sector overall, where does horticultural therapy (HT) fit into the landscape? How do its origins and progress mirror or differ from those in other parts of the world? How similar or different are the HT practices in the UK? These are all questions that I’ve started to explore in my time here. It’s been a tremendous learning experience and while I certainly don’t profess to have all the answers, I’m sharing here an overview of what I’ve discovered to date.
Social & Therapeutic Horticulture
One of the first differences to note is the name of the practice – in the UK, horticultural therapy (HT) is more commonly known as social and therapeutic horticulture (STH). The names are similar and understandable in relation to each other but reflect different origins. As described in a training course from Thrive, the leading gardening for health charity, the naming convention differs due to how the practice and profession evolved in the UK compared to the US. In the UK, modern-day STH started at a grassroots level. In fact, many charitable organizations in the UK are created this way, where a need is identified at the local community level and an individual or group steps in to help meet the need, creating a charity in the process. This can perhaps explain the emphasis on the “social” as a key component of their model – a charitable solution is created in response to a social need discovered and addressed within the community.
In fact, the STH model is defined by three key tenets:
- Natural environment – the setting, materials or location where the practice takes place
- Activity occupation – meaningful and accessible horticultural activities (occupation)
- Social environment – working with others (community) in a positive social environment
For those participating in STH (typically referred to as client gardeners), there are five areas of benefit/goal alignment:
- Physical, including sensory engagement
- Cognitive
- Psychological, including emotional
- Social
- Learning
Again, we see similarities with how the benefits of HT are defined in North America and against which resulting client goals are set with some subtle nuances in naming conventions and additional category of Learning added. In the US, there are typically four areas of benefit/goal alignment with an additional fifth element included in Canada:
- Cognitive
- Social
- Emotional
- Physical
- Spiritual (included in the Canadian model – can include developing a sense of purpose, feeling of connectedness to nature, something bigger than oneself)
Complementary Treatment Modality
Like the US, there is evidence that gardening was used as early as the 1800s as a complementary treatment modality for mental illness in the UK. In a Historical Geography Research paper entitled The Locational History of Mental Health Care in Nottingham, researchers noted “the importance of asylum site which allowed the use of outdoors employment, recreation and ‘amusements’ as key tools of therapy”. With the first Medical Superintendent at the Nottingham site, Dr. Evan Powell, remarking in an 1881 Annual Report that “the patients derive more benefit from employment in the garden than anywhere else, … [which] is natural because they have the advantage of fresh air as well as occupation” (Health Care in Nottingham). Given the impact of WWI and WWII, a link was made between occupational therapy and horticulture to aid veterans upon their return. Sally Coulthard MBE, Founder and CEO of the Defence Gardens Scheme notes in a 2024 RHS article that “Nature has been used to heal soldiers since World War One. Horticultural therapy has a distinguished tradition of providing the space and time for the restoration of mental health”. It is against this historical backdrop that we will further explore the programs and practices of STH in the UK in Part 2 of this series.
References:
Thrive – Social and Therapeutic Horticulture Practice (Blended Course): https://www.thrive.org.uk/get-training/courses-and-workshops/social-and-therapeutic-horticulture-practice
The locational history of mental health care in Nottingham: https://hgrg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/hgrs-no.32-may-1996.pdf
https://www.rhs.org.uk/garden-inspiration/people-making-a-difference/military-veterans
HTI is pleased to welcome Lindsey Hamilton to the monthly blog team.
