Feeling Anxious? 9 Ways to Find Your Peace in the Garden

When I’m feeling stressed or anxious, I can always find peace in the garden. For as long as I can remember, reconnecting with nature is the fastest way for me to bring down my heart rate, and reclaim my calm. It comes as no surprise when I read about the mental and physical health benefits of this favorite pastime. I feel them set in every time I pick up a pair of hand pruners. 

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of life’s responsibilities. Whether it’s work, caring for kids or other loved ones, or the constant barrage of seemingly bad news everywhere we look, overwhelming anxiety has become commonplace in our society. And so has the pursuit of relief from that stress. 

Create a Water Feature

We know how important water is physiologically for the body. It maintains proper blood flow, allows your cells to communicate efficiently, and proper hydration even improves cognitive function. But what about the effects of water outside the body?

Water, especially flowing water, is a known stress reducer. However, the simple presence of water in a space can be soothing and calming. The sound of gently running water has a positive effect on cortisol levels. It promotes relaxation and distraction for a busy brain. 

Water features also tie a space together and make it feel more lived in—mostly because they will be! Water attracts all kinds of wildlife, as everything needs it to survive. It’s so calming to watch the comings and goings of every living thing that enjoys your water feature. 

You can go as simple or as grand as time and effort allow. For a quick addition, set up a birth bath. If you want to enjoy the sound benefit of running water, add a fountain. Solar fountains that fit in bird baths are a quick and economical way to add moving water. If you want to go all out, a fish pond is an amazingly relaxing feature.

Attract Wildlife

Adding a water feature leads to another great stress reducer for more peace in the garden—it attracts wildlife! There are other ways to increase this effect, as well. There is ample evidence that points to a reduction in anxiety with an increase in the biodiversity of your environment. That means a greater variety of life forms in your garden increases the stress-relieving properties. 

A well-manicured flower bed certainly brings a sense of order and satisfaction. However, a wilder space is going to bring more diverse life forms. The more diverse your natural space is, the healthier it will be. Diversity stimulates the senses, taking our minds off of the things that have us worrying. It relieves mental fatigue and plays a role in reducing mental health issues.

Some of the best ways to attract wildlife are to provide them with food, water, and shelter. If animals and insects can find all the things they need to live in your garden, there is a greater chance that they will remain. This applies to all living things, from larger animals to pollinators and even down to the healthy microbes in your soil. All of these things work together to create healthy diversity. 

A water feature is helpful in attracting birds and pollinators. You can add tons of pollinator-friendly plants, but if there is nowhere for them to rehydrate, they can’t stick around for long. Collecting pollen and nectar is strenuous, exhausting work. Bees and butterflies are attracted to water by smell, so don’t refresh it daily. 

Re-Wilding

Re-wilding is one of the best things you can do to attract more wildlife. It’s especially beneficial for pollinating insects. The more native species you include, the greater the variety of bees, butterflies, bats, and hummingbirds you will attract. If you want to keep birds around, feeders are great. You can also leave seed heads intact in the fall to keep them fed during the winter. 

Shelter

Shelter is another aspect of creating a welcome for wildlife. Add birdhouses and pollinator boxes, and pile leaves up rather than bagging and discarding them. Add some fruit-bearing trees and shrubs for both food and shelter. Above all, avoid using toxins like pesticides and herbicides. These kill insects, which are a vital part of the food chain. 

Amphibians

A great way to determine the garden’s biodiversity is with the presence of frogs. Frogs will flock to a garden with plenty of insects to eat. However, they are highly sensitive to chemicals. If you see these amphibians hanging around, chances are good that you have a healthy biome.

Work Up a Sweat

The actual physical work involved in tending your garden is beneficial to your physical and emotional well-being, offering more inner peace and better physical health. Physical exercise, in general, reduces stress and anxiety. It also has positive effects on your body image and self-esteem. The outdoor physical work can also lead to improved sleep, which is vital for reducing stress. 

I don’t need to give you a list of physical activities you can do in the garden. There is always work to do! Weeding isn’t my favorite activity, but there is a great deal of satisfaction in completing the task, and it’s certain to wear you out. I love to just walk around with my pruners and clean up or reshape shrubs and trees. 

Add Wind Chimes

Another way to engage your senses and lower your anxiety is by adding a wind chime to your space. Pleasing sounds have a positive effect on our mental well-being. They help to relax us and create a sense of peace. If you feel overloaded with the external noise of life outside the garden, the music of wind chimes can be grounding.

I love wind chimes with a mezzo or tenor tone. These middle tones have a fuller and richer sound than more high-pitched soprano chimes. Bass tones can be a bit unsettling, in my experience, but you might feel the opposite. Visit your local garden center and test out the different tones they carry. Choose the one that resonates most with your preferences. 

Create a Mindfulness Space

Is there a mindfulness or relaxing activity that you enjoy that helps ease your mind? You can create space for that in the garden’s naturally soothing environment to make it even more full of peace. If you like to meditate, create a comfortable space to rest. If reading soothes your soul, add comfortable seating in a shaded spot. If you’re a yoga buff, clear and level a flat space to expand your practice. 

If you’re an extrovert, you probably find stress relief in the company of others. Does social time refresh you and recharge your emotional battery? Create a beautiful and relaxing space to invite company into. A garden bench or bistro set is the perfect spot to chat over a cup of coffee. 

Plant for Privacy

A lack of privacy in the social or electronic sphere can have us all feeling a bit exposed and vulnerable. While it’s good to interact with other people, too, it’s important to have a private and safe space to relax and unwind. Sometimes, it can be exhausting to have your life on display, and it’s nice to have the freedom of a private space.

When my backyard neighbors removed all the trees from their property a while back, I felt like much of my privacy went with them. While the immediate effect was a negative one, it inspired me to plant more trees. In this case, it motivated me to replace the less desirable water oaks with various beautiful cultivars. 

You can easily turn your garden into a private sanctuary. Larger trees are wonderful additions, but take a long time to grow. A good, sturdy fence will go a long way in creating privacy, and so will a dense hedge. Some fast-growing shrubs that make a great privacy screen include beautybush, hydrangea, viburnum, and loropetalum, among others.

Incorporate Fragrant Plants

Returning to engaging your senses, your sense of smell closely links to your mental well-being. Different smells can evoke certain memories or emotions and affect our mood in general. Adding fragrant plants to your garden makes it more inviting and stimulating, which helps take your mind off what ails you. 

The scent of lavender, rose, and chrysanthemum all have soothing and stress-relieving effects. If you’re having trouble unwinding, fill your space with marjoram, chamomile, and rosemary. Jasmine and gardenia have uplifting and calming qualities.

Look for Surprises

Another garden pastime that I find takes my mind off the stresses of everyday life is looking for surprises. I love to move slowly through the garden in silence and peace, observing what has grown, what is about to bloom, and where things have popped up that I wasn’t expecting. 

Finding that one of last year’s annuals has self-seeded is a lovely surprise. It’s also lovely to discover, in spring, that something you thought got lost during the cold weather was just waiting for the right moment to come back to life. 

Look for new forms of life, and seek out small pleasures. Can you find a butterfly chrysalis or a beautiful and intricate spider web? Watch tiny native bees to find out which flowers they like best. I love to look for sleeping bumblebees in the evening. They love snapdragons, so look for their little fuzzy butts poking out from those snapping jaws. 

Get Your Hands Dirty

Did you know that simply digging in the dirt can have a positive effect on your mental health? It’s true! Healthy soil contains Mycobacterium vaccae. Recently, this beneficial bacteria is the subject of much interest for its effectiveness in reducing stress in mice. The effect of this substance on the human brain is sometimes compared with that of Prozac. 

Mycobacterium vaccae stimulates serotonin production, which helps the body to manage and reduce the effects of anxiety and stress. It also stimulates the immune system, making your body more resistant to illness by promoting an anti-inflammatory response. It’s amazing what simply getting your hands dirty can do for your mind and body!