You’d be forgiven for thinking that the recent epiphany in gardens and mental health is a new discovery, but gardens have long been linked to good health and quiet reflection. In fact, the late 20th-century rift in our relationship with the natural world can be seen as a historical blip in an otherwise unbroken bond between man and nature. The well-documented surge in interest in the natural world during Covid was in fact a restoration of a healthier relationship that we as a society had been enjoying for centuries.
The concept of enclosure and separation from the chaos of the outside world was, and remains, central to many styles of garden across the ancient and modern world – Persian pleasure gardens, Islamic paradise gardens, Chinese courtyard gardens and Japanese rock gardens all foster a sense of seclusion and inward introspection in a tradition that predates our recent fascination with gardens by a couple of millennia.
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