Fig. 1 Labor Day is now behind us and at the gardens that means we must begin in earnest to prepare for our annual fall plant sale. This year the sale will take place on Friday, November 4th and Saturday, November 5th. Our online pre-sale offerings will begin on September…
The use of nature and plants as a form of therapy is practiced all around the world. The term “horto-therapy” was first used by Richardson Wright in 1945 while the term “horticultural therapy” was introduced by Ruth Mosher in 1948 (Olszowy, 1978). Horticultural therapy as a profession is said to…
A garden visitor recently asked what plants hummingbirds like. Hummingbirds often visit our firebush, Amistad salvia, and hibiscus. Those can be found in our Lifestyle Track garden, located east of the greenhouse at Wilmot Botanical Gardens. About four years ago, we planted a pollinator garden on the east side of…
This is one of the most influential papers that I have seen in a long time on the topic of gardening and health by Yang and colleagues1. This study, published in June 2022, was conducted in Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic and aimed to determine whether engaging in outdoor gardening…
Introduction Plants as autotrophic organisms provide the foundations of life for humans and most other heterotrophic life forms on Earth. Moreover, plants have been an essential part of the human condition over the last two million years, and their collective role in our survival, evolution, and cognitive development is unparalleled…
Early last fall I wrote about one of our new therapeutic horticulture programs at WBG; this one for UF students with stress and anxiety. We received a grant from the Love IV Lawrence Foundation that enabled us to create this program and based on reports on mental health concerns…
When the summer begins in Gainesville, many of our students go home for the summer break. The town empties out, and everything quiets down for a few months. But the garden is still growing and there are many tasks to accomplish. Thankfully, we have a good roster of volunteers, an…
From Greece to Gainesville: The Hippocratic Tree at Shands UFCaroline H. Crist, Sustainability InternWilmot Botanical Gardens The father of medicine, Hippocrates, is believed to have first taught medical students under a plane tree (Platanus orientalis), commonly referred to in the United States as…
Many research studies have well documented the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health worldwide, particularly regarding assessments of stress, anxiety, and depression. In the spring of 2020, as the coronavirus spread across the world and the United States, stay-at-home mandates were imposed, and people became sequestered, isolated,…
