Stillness season: why winter gardening might be the most powerful mood booster of all

No one can deny the joy of seeing a garden in full bloom. When that river of colour bursts its banks, turning any outdoor space into a riot of sound, smells and life.

But now, consider the opposite. When that light dusting of frost leaves the grass stiff and the bushes still, when the sun weakly shines on a gnarled tree, or when the only bright spot is a cluster of berries.

It may surprise you to learn that this can help your mood more than any sun-soaked summer garden.

Experts from the National Garden Scheme found that visiting a garden in winter can have significant effects on your mental wellbeing.

In 2024, the UK charity – which opens up thousands of private gardens each year as a means of raising money for nursing and healthcare – surveyed more than 400 visitors from ages 18-25 to 85 and over. Surveying visitors in both winter and summer, they discovered that wellbeing increased significantly in the colder months, with people feeling "more relaxed, happy and excited in the gardens, and less stressed, sad and bored."

While summer visitors also enjoyed a boost, the key result is that attendees in winter arrived at the garden with an initially lower mood, and afterwards ended up enjoying a 17.8 per cent increase in wellbeing vs summer's 12.8 per cent.

In short, seeing a garden in its frozen or barren state gave people just as much of a lift as any flower garden.

The science of a winter wonderland

Of course, it's no secret that visiting gardens, and gardening itself, can be a powerful tool for mental health.

Richard Claxton, CEO of the National Garden Scheme, says that stress hormones such as cortisol can be reduced within just 20 minutes of entering a garden.

"The makeup of our bloodstream, hormones, the white blood cells, blood pressure and heart rate, they're directly affected within a matter of minutes", he comments.

Baroness Kathy Willis, a biodiversity professor at Oxford University, echoed this sentiment in her own interview with BBC Radio 4's What's Up Docs? podcast, alleging that even just the smell of nature, such as a pine forest, can calm the mind within 90 seconds: "when you breathe them in, some molecules pass into the bloodstream."

But why is winter especially helpful? Well, the most common phrase to come out of the National Garden Scheme's survey was "happy and relaxed", with one visitor responding: "Time stopped still and was so tranquil."

With less movement and liveliness in the surroundings, it seems respondents actually noticed far more of the nature around them, which gave their minds more space to appreciate it. Of those who responded, 7 per cent focused on the trees, with one highlighting "seeing the skeletal tree forms”, and another of “seeing the structure of trees without their leaves” as a particular source of joy.

Likewise, without a million and one colours to draw the eye, the survey reported that "when there was less foliage, they could clearly see the structure of the gardens and the views both within and beyond the garden."

On the other side, winter is always a time for new or unexpected growth, and we can all understand the joy of seeing a sprig of dainty primroses or snowdrops poking through the soil. It was this that held special significance for visitors, with around half mentioning the persistence of snowdrops, crocus, hellebores and aconites.

Mentally, the image of these surviving flowers can be a source of hope and optimism, as well as a reminder that spring is coming.

Taking winter home with you

A similar love for the stillness of winter has certainly seeped into practical gardening as well, as many of the tasks that inspire the best mindfulness are the kind of slow, repetitive tasks the season calls for. Pruning, protecting and caring for your soil are all the sort of low-stress activities that can quiet your mind.

As Claxton comments: "Mundane, repetitive movements are like a mindful, meditative process. Picking out my 4,000 foxgloves, for instance, is extremely mindful, and it's actually one of my favourite things to do. You just lose yourself in your thoughts, and you can mull things over."

Plus, this year's gardening trends have all put an emphasis on tougher, resilient plants that can survive whatever drought or deluge the UK throws at them.

The Garden Media Group's 2026 trends report in particular puts focus on embracing the harder tasks and setbacks, becoming more in tune with the natural rhythms of our garden and allowing it to look however it wants to – from skeletal trees to mulchy soil.

It also emphasised a comeback of faded, wintry colours, such as muted shades of pink, plum and caramel. It said: "Muted, organic, and nostalgic, these dusty shades are rooted in nature, colours shifting subtly with the seasons. They capture the beauty of faded clothing or pressed flowers, objects mellowed by time."

So, the message is there: watch those bare leaves closely, enjoy that hard soil and cherish the moments of stillness as much as you can. If the winter blues are getting to you, then the best thing you can do is head out for some green.