We’re marking our annual Gardens and Health Week in May with a celebration of just how good gardens are for you – and the wider environment. Our interactive, digital booklet entitled The Little Yellow Book of Gardens and Health, with a foreword from our Patron HRH The Prince of Wales, is packed with stories and case studies from our Ambassadors, garden owners, garden visitors and beneficiaries who have found solace and improved health and wellbeing by immersing themselves in gardens and gardening.
The National Garden Scheme has been opening gardens to raise funds for nursing and health charities since 1927. More recently, as part of the Gardens And Health initiative, garden owners have hosted visits from service users and staff of those charities that benefit from annual donations.
Horatio’s Garden is one of the National Garden Scheme’s Gardens and Health beneficiaries. Supported since 2015 we have donated over £400,000 and this year the charity is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. Here’s their story.
One of our Gardens and Health beneficiaries is Maggie’s. Built alongside NHS hospitals, their centres are uplifting places – together we take a brief look at the rise and fall of gardens for health in history.
Award-winning garden designer, and National Garden Scheme garden opener, Selina Botham takes us through her philosophy of designing gardens for people as well as wildlife.
Maggie’s Chief Executive, Dame Laura Lee talks about why gardens are so important to their centres and the impact they have on people with cancer.
Find out more about the importance of gardens for patients, staff, volunteers, family and friends at Marie Curie hospices, some of which open for the National Garden Scheme.
Four garden owners with Parkinson’s, who open for the National Garden Scheme, attribute the physical act of gardening as an important part of managing their symptoms.
Macmillan’s cancer voices community share what gardens mean to them and how gardens, and gardening, have supported their wellbeing throughout their cancer experience.
We caught up with some of the plot holders at the Paddock Allotments ahead of their opening for the National Garden Scheme to find out more about what makes being a plot holder special.
Impressed by the care her mum received from Macmillan nurses, Jenny wanted to give something back and now raises money through opening her garden for the National Garden Scheme.
As part of our Gardens & Health Programme we offer free garden visits for the service users linked to our beneficiary charities. Offering a few hours respite in a beautiful garden with a cup of tea, piece of cake and good company really can help lift the spirits.
Japanese gardens lend themselves to the same positive health benefits that we experience by simply spending time in any natural environment. We know we feel good when we’re in a Japanese garden. But why? We discover the secrets of their design.
With nine WWT wetlands centres that have National Garden Scheme gardens close by why not combine a visit to both while you’re out and about this summer. Soak up some blue and green prescriptions and reap the wellbeing rewards!
Referring patients to gardening projects is now a key part of Social Prescribing and one GP, Dr Richard Claxton, is a champion of Green Therapy linking patients with gardens and green spaces to help with a wide range of problems.
Garden designer, writer, presenter and National Garden Scheme Trustee, Arit Anderson, looks at the importance of sustainability in the way we live and garden. Discover more along with some top tips for gardening more sustainably too.
Before the pandemic, having a garden was associated with better health and wellbeing, with that in mind, here are five ways of using your garden that research suggests can improve your mental health.
Our report illustrates the vital role that gardens and outdoor spaces played – and continue to play – in the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the nation during lockdown. The report confirms that the power of gardens to do good has never been more important.
Diagnosed with breast cancer at 31, Lara now attributes her deep affection for nature and gardening to the treatments she underwent
Our special garden meditation helps you find peace, calm and a sense of wellbeing whether in your garden or home
As gardeners we can play our part in helping reverse the effects of climate change and the global decline in biodiversity
For over 40 years a village in Buckinghamshire has been opening its gardens for the National Garden Scheme, not only raising funds for our beneficiaries but providing wonderful health benefits for all involved
Inspired by her daughter’s writing and images of the places she had visited, Amanda Goode has created a garden as a testament to her daughter’s life
The National Garden Scheme is working in partnership with the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) to promote a wider understanding of the importance of wetlands, water and wet spaces in nature and in our gardens for the health of the environment and our own well-being.
Daily fresh air is invaluable right now. The benefits of trees and woods on our mental and physical health are seemingly limitless – time spent in woodland is never wasted – and could even give you more than just a spring in your step
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