Cancerwise

Spending time in a garden can be relaxing. Horticultural therapy takes that idea a step further. Also called garden therapy and therapeutic horticulture, it uses gardening and plant-based activities to support your health. This might include planting seeds, tending vegetables, arranging flowers or simply caring for plants. 

Research suggests horticulture therapy may benefit your mental and emotional well-being. Studies have linked it with lower stress, anxiety and even symptoms of depression. It can also give you a way to be active, connect with nature and focus on a meaningful task.

If you’re undergoing cancer treatment, horticultural therapy may be used to help support your physical and mental health.

“The goal is not to treat a disease, but to support and care for the person as a whole,” says Kathrin Milbury, Ph.D., a Behavioral Science researcher. “Cancer affects your emotional health, thinking and memory, spiritual well-being, relationships and finances. With integrative therapies like horticultural therapy, we try to support the whole person rather than seeing someone only as a cancer patient.”

Read more about horticulture therapy, ways it may help you and how to try it.

What is horticulture therapy?

Horticulture therapy can be a formal therapy guided by a trained horticultural therapist and designed around specific goals for your care and adapted for your needs and abilities.

Or it can also be something you do yourself – either indoors or outdoors.

Horticulture therapy could include:

• Tending to plants at home
• Volunteering at a local garden or nursery. 
• Planting flowers, herbs, vegetables or fruit in a garden or in a small pot on your windowsill.
• Harvesting vegetables, fruits or herbs
• Making arts or crafts that you make using plants you’ve grown

“The idea is to take part in something that gives life and to care for a living thing,” Milbury says. “You care for and nourish a plant, and in return, the experience can nourish you emotionally, spiritually and sometimes physically. Connecting with nature and participating in growth and creation are important parts of what makes gardening therapeutic.”

How spending time outdoors can support emotional well-being and mental health

Milbury says research has shown that horticulture therapy offers mental health benefits, especially for stress and anxiety management. Research also suggests that gardening with family, friends or community groups can help you build connections and feel less isolated.

“People with strong social connections tend to have better health outcomes and may even live longer,” she says. “Social support can also help lower stress.”

Spending time outdoors or with nature may lead to you getting more vitamin D from sunlight. Vitamin D helps support mood and brain function, which improves your thinking. The sun can also trigger your body’s release of serotonin — a key hormone that boosts your mood and promotes calmness. Spending time in nature may also lower your cortisol levels. This, too, can help curb stress and symptoms of:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Post-traumatic stress disorder

Horticulture therapy may improve self-esteem

If you can’t work or do everyday activities during cancer treatment, that may affect your identity and self-esteem, Milbury notes. This can lead to depression or anxiety.

If you can no longer do the things that gave you purpose before your cancer diagnosis, you may need to find new activities that bring meaning and purpose to your life.

“Gardening can fit well into that,” says Milbury, whose research focuses on purposeful living. “It allows people to reconnect with something very human. Working with your hands and feeling soil — and seeing something grow and knowing that you helped make that growth possible — can be fulfilling. It can support self-esteem.”

Horticulture therapy may help you eat healthier

Joya Chandra, Ph.D., has studied how gardening impacts diet change in cancer survivors and their families. 

“Growing fruits and vegetables, using them in recipes and trying new foods can encourage healthier eating habits,” she says.

In her research, Chandra has learned how eating the fruits, vegetables and herbs that you grow can make a meaningful impact on choosing to eat a healthier diet. 

UT MD Anderson recommends that you fill two-thirds of your plate with vegetables, whole grains and fruits. Fill the remaining one-third with healthy protein sources, such as fish, lean poultry, tofu and unsweetened dairy, or try legumes like beans and lentils — they’re a good source of protein as well as fiber.  

Choose healthy fats like olive oil, nuts, seeds and avocados, and limit processed foods that are high in sugar, salt and unhealthy fats. Limit red meat and avoid processed meats like bacon, sausage and deli meats, which are linked to colorectal cancer.  

If you’re in cancer treatment, or have completed cancer treatment, speak with your doctor or a clinical dietitian to address your specific nutrition needs.

An additional benefit of horticulture therapy: It's exercise

UT MD Anderson recommends that adults aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week. Moderate exercise raises your heart rate so you can talk but not sing. Vigorous exercise raises your heart rate higher, so you can say a few words but not hold a conversation. Additionally, you should strive for strength training exercise twice a week.

Research confirms that gardening can count as vigorous exercise. It’s easy to see why if you’ve spent time digging on your hands and knees, mowing a yard or raking soil or leaves. Gardening and yard work also get your heart rate up enough to provide meaningful physical activity, Chandra says.

Even gentler tasks like planting seeds or deadheading flowers can have benefits.

“We’re trying to encourage survivors to use gardening as a way to improve energy balance behaviors such as diet and exercise, and to offset psychosocial issues that come up during treatment and survivorship,” Chandra says.

Who can benefit from horticulture therapy?

Horticulture therapy can benefit everyone, regardless of your age or whether you’ve had cancer.

Research has shown that it’s also helpful for family members and caregivers of cancer patients, Milbury says.

“Caregiving can take up a great deal of your time and energy,” she explains. “It can affect you psychologically and physically. Garden therapy can help caregivers manage stress, take a break and focus on their own well-being.”