Researchers found that people who surround themselves with plant life and other forms of natural beauty, indoors and out, experience emotional and mental health benefits that have a positive impact on their social, psychological, physical, cognitive, environmental, and spiritual well-being. Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses ways to improve mental health with Brooks Osman, better known as The Garden Guru.
JEFFREY H. SNYDER, BROADCAST RETIREMENT NETWORK
(0:03) This morning on BRN, how owning plants can improve your mental health. (0:08) Joining me now to discuss this and a lot more, I call him the garden guru. (0:13) He’s also known as, to friends, family, and loved ones, as Brooks Osmond.
(0:18) Brooks, always great to see you, my friend. (0:19) Thanks for joining us on the program this morning. (0:21) Thanks for having me back, Jeffrey.
(0:24) I wouldn’t miss it. (0:25) I love chatting with you. (0:27) I like you personally, of course, and I have known you for a long time.
(0:30) You’re a great Keys player, Oriole fan, and you know more than anybody that I know in terms of how to manage a garden. (0:37) So we welcome you back as often as we can get you. (0:42) A little bit different story today, but aligned with what you do, and I want to ask you first, is there a connection between your mental health and gardening?
BROOKS OSMAN, THE GARDEN GURU
(0:54) Absolutely. (0:56) Not only in gardens, but with houseplants as well. (1:00) Let’s take that for instance, your indoor houseplants.
(1:03) They’re creating oxygen, which then removes toxins out of the air, already creating a healthier environment. (1:12) And in addition to that, it brings a sense of calmness and relaxation to you as well. (1:19) And now that goes with the outside gardens as well.
(1:22) So the calming and relaxingness. (1:25) It also, you know, having a sense of regular watering and maintenance and pruning gives a sense of satisfaction and relief as well.
JEFFREY H. SNYDER, BROADCAST RETIREMENT NETWORK
(1:36) So is it a emotional, spiritual or a scientific relationship? (1:43) Because what you’re describing, obviously, plants, I remember my biology and I remember that plants, we expire carbon dioxide, they live off of carbon dioxide and they breathe out oxygen. (1:58) So is it scientific, is it emotional or what?
BROOKS OSMAN, THE GARDEN GURU
(2:02) It’s all of the above. (2:03) I’ll give you a perfect scenario. (2:05) In the wintertime, I suffer from, and a lot of people do, seasonal affective disorder, otherwise known as SAD.
(2:13) And you certainly feel sad in the wintertime because there’s no sense of, well, I can’t get outside in the wintertime, okay? (2:22) And in the mid-Atlantic. (2:24) So when I’m out in the summertime and I’m gardening and I’m ripping and yanking all those weeds, I’m getting my anger out and frustrations out in that.
(2:33) I can’t do that in the wintertime.
JEFFREY H. SNYDER, BROADCAST RETIREMENT NETWORK
(2:37) Yeah, I mean, I can, you know, I’m aware of SAD and I like the acronym. (2:42) It’s just always interesting how those things kind of align, the seasonal affective disorder, mood disorder. (2:48) For someone that maybe is not familiar with plants and planting, I mean, of course, we’re all familiar with greenery and shrubs.
(2:56) How do you get started if you want to improve your mental health? (3:00) Do you just go to the local flower shop, get a flower, talk to it, breathe on it, you know, feed it? (3:09) What’s the way to get started?
BROOKS OSMAN, THE GARDEN GURU
(3:12) Well, don’t get discouraged first off. (3:14) If you don’t think you have a green thumb, don’t be discouraged. (3:18) Just go out and keep it simple.
(3:20) Go to your local greenhouse, pick out something that you like, whether it’s a house plant or a flower, a dahlia, to put in a pot for outside. (3:30) Just do something simple, make it easy for you. (3:33) And then once you realize your skill level with plants, then you can get some more and keep it going.
JEFFREY H. SNYDER, BROADCAST RETIREMENT NETWORK
(3:44) I would imagine people watching this, if they don’t have a garden, and you are, by the way, the garden guru, so I wanted to bring that up. (3:51) But if they don’t have a garden and we all try to bite off more than we can chew. (3:57) So jumping in and creating a garden, would you start with just buying one plant for the home?
(4:03) Would you start with like, hey, I want to grow tomatoes or I want to grow squash? (4:08) I don’t know, I’m just making or plant some corn. (4:11) Is there a place to start either indoors or outdoors to get started?
(4:16) Sure.
BROOKS OSMAN, THE GARDEN GURU
(4:16) Well, it depends what you have available. (4:19) Like I move around a lot. (4:20) So lately I’ve been making container gardens and I just have them for a season.
(4:24) And then in the fall, I can break them down and then save the pots. (4:32) But as far as, you know, also with mental health, I wanted to bring this up. (4:36) Being outside, like let’s say you have the space outside to have a garden and plant your squash.
(4:42) Getting out there just in the fresh air and the bright light and the sunshine is creating a better healthiness for you already. (4:51) Something that you can’t do in the wintertime is easily in the wintertime. (4:55) You might want to, if you can, if it’s not icy, you can take a walk or a hike.
(4:59) But you might have to find like a gym or something to stay active in the wintertime. (5:05) But at least in the summertime, you can get out there with that sunlight and and grow things. (5:11) And it makes you grow and makes you learn.
(5:15) And it’s it’s hands on. (5:17) So even if you don’t like getting your hands dirty, just try it. (5:20) You can always wash your hands.
JEFFREY H. SNYDER, BROADCAST RETIREMENT NETWORK
(5:22) You know, as I’m listening to you talk about it, I’m often I’m thinking about having a pet, a cat, a dog, a gerbil, a hamster, a fish. (5:30) Owning a plant in some ways is is like that. (5:34) I mean, they are your baby.
(5:35) Many people talk, think about their cats and dogs as their fur baby. (5:40) So it’s analogous to having a pet. (5:42) Maybe you don’t want to have you can’t for whatever reason.
(5:46) You’re allergic. (5:46) You can’t have a dog or cat in the house. (5:49) This gives you the same result.
(5:51) It’s it’s caring for something, watching it grow, develop, bloom with the seasons.
BROOKS OSMAN, THE GARDEN GURU
(5:58) Absolutely. (5:59) I talk to my plants. (6:01) I touch them, I prune them, I pick them.
(6:04) I take the yellow leaves off. (6:05) I take scissors and cut stems off. (6:09) Deadheading everything.
(6:11) It’s the more you touch and stimulate the plants, you’re actually activating the root system underneath. (6:19) So when you wobble and move a plant’s stem, you’re actually it’s it’s connecting to the roots down there and then it makes the roots expand and grow. (6:29) So everything is connected.
(6:30) So, yes, I don’t know what I do without my kitty cat. (6:33) Queen Jane. (6:35) But when she’s outside chasing birds, I’m going to talk to my plants.
JEFFREY H. SNYDER, BROADCAST RETIREMENT NETWORK
(6:43) Do you think it’s cathartic? (6:44) I mean, not to get too personal, but you think it’s kind of like, hey, these are helps you kind of express yourself in a way. (6:51) I mean, I talk to my cats.
(6:52) So, you know, just to be very clear, I talk to them all day long. (6:55) My wife is at her office. (6:57) I’m I’m in the studio.
(6:58) The cats are here. (6:59) I talk to them in some ways. (7:00) It’s cathartic because I can express to them how I’m feeling.
(7:04) Is it the same thing for you with the plants? (7:07) Like you’re taking your innermost feelings and saying, you know, geez, I would love a friend to talk to today or something like that.
BROOKS OSMAN, THE GARDEN GURU
(7:13) Sure. (7:14) I I just I don’t I love my plants. (7:18) And, you know, I’m having plants.
(7:21) Well, plants teach you patience. (7:23) I have a plant that doesn’t bloom for five or seven years, and it just bloomed this year. (7:30) So I’ve had the plant for five years and finally it just bloomed.
(7:33) So it’s nice when you show years and years of love and it rewards you.
JEFFREY H. SNYDER, BROADCAST RETIREMENT NETWORK
(7:40) And does the plant reciprocate, you know, an animal cat’s purr dogs? (7:45) I don’t know what they do. (7:46) They lick and they do all sorts of things to affirm the behavior.
(7:50) Does a plant other than the blooming and the perkiness of a plant, does it give back the love that you and care that you give it?
BROOKS OSMAN, THE GARDEN GURU
(7:59) Yeah, I believe it gives back the love when it pops those flowers open for you. (8:03) That’s the ultimate love.
JEFFREY H. SNYDER, BROADCAST RETIREMENT NETWORK
(8:05) Yeah, that would that would be the the the the end result and probably the best result. (8:12) Well, Brooks, we’re going to have to leave it there. (8:13) Interesting conversation.
(8:14) Always appreciate talking to you. (8:16) I felt like our conversation today was scientific, but also a little philosophical and psychological. (8:21) And I always appreciate the opportunity to talk to you and take it to all different places.
(8:26) Good to see you. (8:27) Thanks for joining us. (8:27) And we look forward to having you back on the program again very soon.
BROOKS OSMAN, THE GARDEN GURU
(8:31) It’s all connected, Jeffrey. (8:32) Thank you very much.
JEFFREY H. SNYDER, BROADCAST RETIREMENT NETWORK
(8:33) It is. (8:34) It is. (8:34) Thanks, Brooks.
BROOKS OSMAN, THE GARDEN GURU
(8:35) Bye bye.
JEFFREY H. SNYDER, BROADCAST RETIREMENT NETWORK
(8:36) Don’t forget to subscribe to our daily newsletter, The Morning Pulse for all the news in one place. (8:41) Details, of course, at our website and your subscription helps support all this great BRN content. (8:48) We’re back again tomorrow for another edition of BRN.
(8:51) Until then, I’m Jeff Snyder. (8:52) Stay safe, keep on saving. (8:54) And don’t forget, roll with the changes.