For as long as humans have grown gardens, we’ve grown plants that can help heal us. Whether it’s herbs for a poultice, fruits and vegetables for nutrition, or flowers for tea, gardens have always given us so much. These healing gardens aren’t always about just growing ingredients, though.
The stories here show that in healing, gardens are a place to repair the spirit. Gardens are that place of solitude and contemplation that we need to calm or refresh ourselves.
The stories here have their emotional ups and downs, as is the case in Kika Dorsey’s My Mother’s Garden. Sometimes, quite honestly, life can throw challenges at us that we don’t always know how to handle, or think we can handle.
It can be hard to find our way through the hurt and pain. But there’s always a place we can come back to – our gardens. That’s the place Marilyn Kendall finds solace in thinking of her mother in One Million Daisies.
Whether we need the quiet of pulling weeds, the ever-so-subtle transformative nature of a compost pile, or just that little bit of space that gardens give us to share our stories with a best friend, we have our healing gardens.
The stories here will touch your heart and remind you that a garden is much more than just a collection of plants.
Feel free to stay a while and enjoy all the healing gardens stories we have to share below. And be sure to check out our Healing Gardens Freebie while you’re here, which features a hand-picked selection of our favorite stories from this category.
It’s no wonder why hospitals and mental health facilities build healing gardens for their patients. There is no such place that can change your mindset so easily than the scent of a lilac tree in bloom, or fresh-cut grass on bare feet. Of course, sometimes what’s meant to be your own personal healing garden can […]
Thirteen years ago my husband, Mark, and I bought a rectangular little house on a rectangular green grass lawn. It reminded me of the little plastic houses on the board game Monopoly. We had barely finished unpacking the dishes when my head started spinning with my elaborate plan. It was time to bring my deepest […]
In the serene town of Harmony Springs, a man named Richard Walker grappled with the profound loss of his son, Ethan. The sorrow that enveloped Richard’s life transformed into a powerful journey of healing and resilience, beautifully captured in the blossoming garden he cultivated. Stumbling upon a forgotten gardening book that once belonged to Ethan, […]
One of the first gardening friends we had here at GreenPrints was Becky Rupp. She was in our very first issue way back in 1990, and she’s still with us as a contributing editor. Her scientific and historic knowledge about gardens is simply amazing and always entertaining. And who could forget Mike McGrath, whose humorous […]
I know! You’re probably reading that sentence above and thinking we have all gone off the deep end here. But don’t hit that unsubscribe button yet! Hear me out, because the perfect garden for meditation can take many different forms. Some gardens, like a Japanese rock garden or your local botanical gardens, are ideal for […]
I find most gardens to be healing. Even with the thorns, rocks, weeds, and sore back, I find gardens to be a place of peace, serenity, and contemplation. A healing garden, in my opinion, is just about any garden. I’ll admit, though, that I often think of a healing garden as one that’s lush with […]
Gardening comes with so many mental health benefits because it can bring us closer to Earth when we feel like we might have floated away and feel lost. Some people intentionally plant a garden of healing. I’ve ready many stories on GreenPrints of those who have planted memory gardens, whether it’s by a favorite color, […]
I love my garden. I don’t think there’s a gardener out there who doesn’t feel the same about their garden. Sure, they can sometimes be frustrating, and they can certainly be a lot of work, but I find that helps me appreciate the garden even more. Like many gardeners, I also don’t always get to […]
He loves me. He loves me not. Maybe you remember saying this as you snapped each petal from a flower, one by one. Your adolescent love life rested on the whims of a flower, and whether you landed on “loves me,” or “loves me not” as you pulled that last petal. We were so close […]
I’ll admit that homemade lemon curd has never brought a tear to my eye. A pucker to my lips? Absolutely. A smile to my mouth? Certainly! A sigh of ecstasy? Undoubtedly. But a tear? No. Not until I read this story by Audrey Medina. Usually, there’s not much to making homemade lemon curd. You just […]
