How House Plants Relieve Anxiety

12-minute read

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What if I told you, you can relief anxiety with plants? Some years ago, I found out how therapeutic caring for house plants can be. It has become a plant obsession for me.

The journey is worth it because of the therapeutic rewards caring for plants has provided me. I want to share with you how house plants and gardening can enhance all 5 senses and help to relieve anxiety.

Anxiety is real and Horticulture Therapy can help

I have suffered from anxiety and depression my whole life. I know many others do as well. Millions of meds are prescribed every year for anxiety and depression. While I do feel like some meds are necessary, I do not think individuals should have to be dependent on meds to be happy in their lives.

That is why I am on a mission to find natural ways to cope with anxiety and depression. Plants have become one of my favorite natural ways to cope with anxiety. And plants can do this for you too.

There is something truly magical about caring for plants. It truly is therapeutic and rewarding. I will show you how to care for plants and unlock this magic.

In this blog post, I will show you how to use plants to therapeutically enhance all 5 senses and discuss what Horticulture Therapy is:

What is Horticulture Therapy?
Caring for House Plants and Gardening
Visual Pleasure
Breath in the Aroma
Culinary Plants
Touch Therapy
What is Audible About Plants?
Bonus: Physical Activity
Bonus: Creating Bonds

What is Horticulture Therapy?

Horticulture therapy can be defined as the process in which caring for plants and gardening activities are used to improve mental health.

Presently horticulture therapy is used for people with disabilities to help improve physical strength, individuals with dementia and Alzheimer’s to help improve memory loss, and the area I am going to talk about is how it helps people with anxiety and depression.

Caring for Houseplants and Gardening

Now a lot of you may be thinking gardening is not for you, it is something you remember your grandma did. You are wrong! Gardening and caring for house plants is for people of all ages, sex, nationalities, races, etc.

In fact, recent statistics have shown a 10-15% year-over-year increase in sales in the houseplant and gardening industry since 2013. There are many contributing factors to this increase.

One factor is everywhere we look now on television, in magazines and stores, and in advertisements and on the internet, you see plants.

Incorporating plants in interior design is even more trendy than ever before. Most importantly, to me, is the fact that nurturing and caring for plants can truly be beneficial to your health.

Not only do plants provide stress relief and relief from anxiety, but they also provide nurturing through all 5 senses. I am going to introduce to you some plants that provide stimulation for all your senses and give you some basic tips for caring for these plants.

So, if you are ready to reap the rewards from your new hobby, join me in learning more about how house plants can relieve your anxiety.

Visual Pleasure

The first sense therapy plants provide is visual pleasure and interest. When you see a plant, even if you are not taking in the actual plant itself, maybe you just are looking at a room’s décor, you still feel the beauty and serenity of the plant.

That is why plants are commonly placed in homes to stage them for sale. The visual effect house plants have on us may not even be revealed as the plant itself, but it brings a feeling of home over us.

When you first think of house plants that provide visual pleasure you may think of flowering plants. You are right! But I want to introduce some visually interesting plants that are not just flowering plants that give visual pleasure.

The Venus Flytrap, Little Shop of Horrors, anyone?

Venus flytraps bring visual interest, for sure. This plant has been somewhat of a challenge growing for me. I finally had to invest a little more money (not much) into my supplies for them.

Venus flytraps are native to the Carolinas and are used to growing in poor soil therefore they eat flies for nutrition. Because of this, you should not add any fertilizers to their soil.

Most soil you buy from commercial lawn and garden centers has added fertilizers that will overfertilize Venus flytraps. The best soil I have found is a Venus flytrap soil I bought from Baby Violets on Amazon here.

Remember to only water flytraps with rainwater or distilled water because there are too many minerals in tap water. Venus flytraps also need a lot of direct sunlight. If your house does not get a lot of sunlight, then add this grow light to supplement your Venus flytrap.

Although Venus Flytraps are a little more challenging to care for, watching them grow and provide the elevated level of visual interest they do, is so worth the effort. Your new Venus flytrap friend is sure to be the star of the show in your home.

Succulents are some of the most visually interesting plants I have seen. Ogre's ears are one of my favorite succulents. If you have ever seen the movie Shrek, you can agree this plant looks like a whole bunch of Shrek's ears.

The ruby necklace is my new love, with purple vines and yellow blooms. The contrast is an aesthetic pleasure for the eyes. Burro's tail and String of Pearls grow to cascade down from their pots in long vines, which makes these plants amazing and visually interesting hanging plants.

There are hundreds of more visually interesting plant types. I find all plants visually interesting and pleasing. That is why I own over 200 and am always researching more.

Adding Plants to Home Décor & Environment

Plants and trees have been incorporated into home decor, in shops and buildings, and landscaping and gardening. Herbs in kitchens, hanging plants in front of living room windows, Pothos and philodendrons climbing up walls, orchids as dining centerpieces, citrus trees on sunny patios.

If you flip on any HGTV series, you will find that plants are in the house staging in every episode. House plants are trendy and rightfully so.

Seasonal and Holiday plants

When you hear seasonal or holidays, you may automatically think of Christmas, I guess, this is because this is the holiday season and the biggest marketing time of the year. I am the opposite; I get so excited when I start seeing buds on the trees around me.

The lime greens, fresh whites, sunny yellows, and beautiful pinks, purples, and blues of all the newly budding and blooming trees and flowers are my signal and I know I am going to be able to get out and garden again soon. As a person who suffers from seasonal depression, the first signs of spring are like a breath of fresh air for me.

Christmas time is fun too, don’t get me wrong, I just love the spring and summertime more.

During the holidays I have found the dark greens and reds of poinsettias, cyclamens, and holly plants pleasantly inviting.

Valentine's Day brings out red roses, fresh tulips in every color, and flamingo plants throughout all the big box stores shelves and I cannot wait for them to arrive.

And of course, springtime brings out all the plants and all the gardening supplies and oh how I cannot wait to browse the garden section of all the stores!

A vision for your plants

Everyone who buys plants has a vision for it, even if they don’t even know they have the vision. Whether it is going into the house in a planter, on the back patio, or in the garden or landscaping.

When you go to buy it, you have a vision in mind. Your vision may be super planned out or you have just simply seen a cool plant in the store and bought it on a whim. Either way it is a visual pleasure you are adding to your environment.

Breath in the Aroma

Many plants smell amazing, mostly herbs. My favorite scents are lavender, spearmint, peppermint, all the mints smell amazing, basil, rosemary, sage, and eucalyptus. Also, most blooming plants such as orchids, jasmine, and Angel's trumpet smell amazing.

Growing these plants is a little more challenging, but as an ever-advancing plant parent, choose the ones you love, research, and trial and error how to grow them.

Lemon trees, the Meyers version, are easy to grow in planters on your patio in the summer months and in the house with a grow light in the wintertime. Mine is still young and has not produced any fruit yet. From the research I have done, the citrus aroma fills up your indoor living space when bearing fruit.

The fruit of a Meyers is different from lemons you buy in the store. The skin is much thinner and the fruit itself tastes like a cross between a lemon and an orange. They also have citrus sweet-smelling floral blooms in spring. Mine has done this, the blooms do not last long, but smell so good and are beautiful.

Plants are Air Purifying

Plants purify our air. While you are breathing in their fresh aromas, they are also giving you back purified air. Read more about Air purifying plants in this post.

Plants are not only proven to reduce stress, but they are also good at removing toxins from our environment which improves air quality.

Culinary Plants

Many herbs are used for cooking. It is popular and easy to grow your own herb garden in your kitchen and outside on the patio in summer.

This past winter I started growing in a grow tent so that I can create an environment where my herbs can happily grow year-round. With the use of grow lights, I will for sure keep my herb garden growing and enjoy fresh herbs to eat throughout the year.

Herbal Teas

Herbal teas have good aromas. The herbs used to make teas such as tea roses, lavender, lemon balm, and chamomile are just a few and all smell amazing. Growing a tea garden is something I am working on currently.

Mints are also found in teas and lots of other drinks. For example, I love mojitos with fresh mojito mint. Mojito grows easily in a pot. Peppermint tea is soothing when you have a head or chest cold. Add a little spearmint to your lemon water in the summertime, it is so refreshing.

Culinary herbs I like to cook with and have had some success growing are basil, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, and mints.

Pruning your own fresh herbs, you grew and using them to cook with is so rewarding. This is the magic!

Touch Therapy

Touch is particularly important for stimulating your mental health. I cannot help but smile when I feel the soft fur of a puppy. Or the wide array of animal furs in a petting zoo. I love animal’s fluffy fur. To learn that there are plants that have the same fluffy feeling of fur on their leaves is super exciting! I cannot wait to touch all of them!

Fuzzy Leafed Plants

Examples are African Violets, Lambs Ears, Mullein, Cerveza Lime, Purple Passion, Dusty Miller, and Geranium. Any fuzzy leafed plant makes me excited.

Imagine sitting near your garden in early summer with everything in bloom, now imagine your mind settling, not thinking about the rest of the world for a few long moments. Clearing your mind and taking in the visual beauty. Breathe in the fresh air in several, deep inhalations.

Now slow your breathing and concentrate only on the smells that surround you. All the newly bloomed flowers and herbs that surround you. Now that your mind is clear and focused on visual beauty, your breathing is controlled, and your lungs are purified from the fresh air and the aroma around you is pleasantly sweet.

The only other thing that would make this even better is a comforting touch and some food. Reach out and stroke the leaves of a lamb's ear plant and you get a comforting touch, their leaves are so soft, like a lamb's ear, hence the name.

What is Audible About Plants?

Water Features

One of the best things about gardening activities is once you are done you get to sit back, relax, and meditate or just reflect on things.

There is just something so serene about hearing running water. Adding a water feature to your garden is necessary. You may not have a full-on garden, but you can add a small water feature, like this one, to your patio garden or even a room in your house.

Birds and Bees

If you do have a garden, listen to what your garden will bring. Birds singing, bees buzzing, and hummingbirds vibrating, it is comforting knowing that they are hard at work pollinating your garden. The natural order of nature is one thing I relate to and can relax and feel uplifted. Planting the right plants and herbs will bring this nature to your backyard.

Here are some plants you will want that will attract beneficial bugs for your garden, like bees. Lavender, cone flower, sunflowers, butterfly bush and bee balm are only a few of the many plants that attract beneficial bugs and birds to your garden.

Hearing Gratitude

And the thanks you will hear when you share your veggies with the neighborhood. Now that we are more established in our home, I hope to have a good harvest from my garden this coming summer to share and have gratitude for the thanks I will hear.

Bonus:

As a bonus gardening and caring for plants gets us more active and can create strong bonds with your family and friends.

Physical activity

Gardening and caring for plants are good physical activities. It may not seem like you are doing much, but when you put in an exhausting day of gardening, repotting, and pruning plants you will feel it physically when you lay down that night. I do enjoy the outdoors when the weather is sunny and warm, and gardening and caring for plants is one of my favorite outdoor summer activities.

Bonding with your children, family, and friends.

One concrete memory I have from my early childhood is going out into the garden with my dad and picking tomatoes and cucumbers. I loved the cucumbers when they were about the size of a pickle and my dad would have to watch me so I would not eat all of them. "Let some of them grow", he would say.

There is nothing like a tomato from the garden!

I was able to carry this bond on with my son. When he was 4, we grew strawberries in our garden. I would pick him up from daycare in the afternoons and as soon as the car stopped, he would unbuckle his car seat, run to the garden, and pick all the new strawberries to eat.

My older brother has also carried this tradition on with his kids. They grow a garden every summer.

My younger brother and I share starts from house plants, plant photos and plant tips every time we visit and talk. I enjoy that we have this bond. My best friend and I also share plant photos and she names her plants too. I love all the bonds plants bring!

Every sense can be enhanced with the use of plants and gardening. I hope you are going to give one of these plants a try to enhance your senses and help you to cope with stress and anxiety.