Front gardens MAKE US HAPPY

A well-tended front garden doesn’t just improve kerb appeal – it can improve the health of the people who live there, too. That’s the verdict of a recent study by Sheffield University after plants were introduced to 38 previously bare plots. The study, carried out by RHS PhD student Dr Lauriane Suyin Chalmin-Pui follows news that UK front gardens are rapidly disappearing under paving or tarmac. An estimated 4.5 million front gardens now contain no plants at all.

Participants in an area of Salford, Greater Manchester, were given an ornamental tree, one shrub, one climber and enough bulbs and bedding plants to fill two containers. The residents were not required to maintain the plants, but advice was on hand if they wanted to. Levels of the stress hormone cortisol was measured in the householders before and after the plants were introduced for a period of two years. The study found that only 24 per cent of residents had healthy cortisol levels before their gardens were boosted, but this increased to 53 per cent after their plots were improved with plants.