»When we work with nature outside us, we work with nature inside us.«

Sue Stuart-Smith is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and married to Tom Stuart-Smith, the celebrated garden designer. Together they have created the Barn Garden in Hertfordshire.

This book is deeply touching and I wanted to scream “Yes” and “I knew it” at least hundred times. Like when Sue Stuart-Smith speaks about sowing seeds:

»When we sow a seed, we plant a narrative of future possibility. It is an action of hope. Not all the seeds we sow will germinate, but there is a sense of security that comes from knowing you have seeds in the ground.«

As well as about the caring aspect of gardening:

»To practise true care means becoming receptive to another as we tune in and focus on the needs of someone or something outside ourselves.«

I feel these words are so true judged on my humble experience with plants. There is the caring part but also a sense of connection with life, which I would even dare to call friendship.

Stuart-Smith also gives biological reasons for humans’ reaction to gardens and plants, which I found very illuminating and reassuring:

»Part of the pleasure of digging in the garden is the smell of wet earth. The aroma, known as geosmin, is released through the activity of soil bacteria called actinomycetes, and it has a pleasing and soothing effect on most people.«

»Esther Sternberg, a physician who writes about the properties of healing spaces, calles the colour green `the default mode for our brains‘. She explaines that: `the photoreceptor pigment gene that emerged first in evolutionary history is the one most sensitive to the spectral distribution of sunlight and to the wavelengths of light reflected from green plants‘.«

How can gardening relieve stress and help us look after our mental health? What lies behind the restorative power of the natural world?

In a powerful combination of contemporary neuroscience, psychoanalysis and brilliant storytelling, The Well Gardened Mind investigates the magic that many gardeners have known for years - working with nature can radically transform our health, wellbeing and confidence.

With illuminating stories of how people struggling with stress, depression, trauma and addiction can change their lives, this inspiring and wise book of science, insight and anecdote - now translated into fifteen languages - shows how our understanding of nature and its restorative powers is only just beginning to flower.

A Times and Sunday Times Best Book of 2020