Shows
Avant GardenersSue Stuart-Smith // From 'outdoor housework' to The Well Gardened Mind, Gardening for Mind & Body, the Power of Flowers, The Barn GardenWelcome to the first episode of our little mini winter series. We'll be talking about the birds and the bees, the mind and fruit trees. Thanks for being here. First up, we're having a fan girl moment chatting to Sue Stuart-Smith. Sue is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of The Well Gardened Mind – a Sunday Times Bestseller. Sue originally saw gardening as 'outdoor housework', but it was the veggie garden that drew her in. She originally studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge before qualifying as a doctor and working in the NHS, where she we...2025-07-0844 min
Shobukai ShiftThe Well-Gardened Self: Nature, Growth and Personal TransformationWhat if the key to navigating chaos isn’t more control—but more connection to nature?In this episode of Shobukai Shift, Mary explores how the natural world—gardening, birdwatching, even groundhogs—can heal us, grow us, and guide us through personal, organizational, and societal transformation. Drawing from Sue Stuart-Smith’s The Well-Gardened Mind, neuroscience, client stories, and her own pandemic experience, Mary unearths a simple but powerful truth: transformation is our nature.Whether you're planting tomatoes, battling burnout, or feeding the birds, this episode will remind you: Growth is messy. Nature is wise. And healing...2025-06-0418 min
Brave New Girls - Well Beings, Well PlanetHow spending time in the garden is good for your mind, with Author of The Well Gardened Mind, Dr Sue Stuart SmithHow can getting involved in gardening help the health & wellbeing of people and the planet?If you’re interested in how gardening can help your mental & physical health listen to my guest this week, DR Sue Stuart-Smith who is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of The Well Gardened Mind, a Sunday Times Bestseller & gardening book of the year by The Sunday Times. She investigates the magic that many gardeners have known for years – working with nature can radically transform our health, wellbeing & confidence whether we're struggling with stress, depression, trauma or addiction, & the book includes stori...2025-02-0432 min
RSA EventsRDI Address 2024Tom Stuart-Smith’s work forges connections between people and place. Bringing an analytical design approach together with a detailed understanding of the nature of a place, Tom’s practice is underpinned by a strong sustainability ethic. Seeking to increase the ecological diversity and richness of any landscape in which he works, his aim is to create multi-layered new spaces of emotional depth and imaginative possibility.Sue Stuart-Smith is a prominent psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and author. Her book 'The Well Gardened Mind' explores the power of gardening to answer deep human needs and change lives.Tom and Sue...2024-11-2955 min
Gardeners' CornerSarah Raven at Perch Hill and Tom Stuart-Smith at the Serge Hill ProjectIn this Gardeners’ Corner special, David Maxwell visits two gardening greats; Sarah Raven at her world famous East Sussex farmhouse, Perch Hill and designer Tom Stuart-Smith at the Serge Hill Project in Hertfordshire. At Perch Hill, David chats to Sarah about how the former medic became one of the most influential gardeners of our time and what it’s like when your home becomes part of the brand. Head gardener Josie Lewis shows him around the garden including the dazzling Dahlia patch – a flower Sarah can take much credit for bringing back into fashion. In the second part of the pr...2024-10-0556 min
Life in the Garden#52. "Coltivare il giardino della mente" con Sue Stuart-Smith.Eccoci qua! Bentornati a Life in the Garden! Questo è un episodio speciale dedicato ad un convegno organizzato da Eleonora Giuliodori, Sandro Degni e da me e che si è tenuto ad Offagna nelle Marche l'11 maggio, intitolato "I Giardini del Benessere e Orticoltura Terapeutica". All'incontro sono intervenuti ospiti eccezionali come Sue Stuart-Smith, psichiatra e psicoterapeuta autrice del best-seller "Coltivare il giardino della mente"; Margherita Volpini, ortoterapeuta e docente di orticoltura terapeutica; Ania Balducci, docente di orticoltura terapeutica all'Università di Bologna e Monica Botta, architetto paesaggista e direttrice del corso "Therapeutic Landscape Design". In questo episodio, anche per motivi di tempo, mi son...2024-06-0734 min
On Garden DesignTherapy and Wellbeing Garden DesignWe intuitively know that gardens have a positive impact on mental health. When this is backed by science, it becomes even more compelling.
Join us in this gentle chat with Sue Stuart-Smith, psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author of The Well Gardened Mind as she takes us on a journey to better understand why and how gardens can be healing and restorative for mental health conditions.
Peppered with practical examples, Sue shares her research and observation of therapeutic design techniques and explains why people feel held, safe and hopeful in a garden.Photos for this episode are on Instagram at...2024-04-0533 min
Earth and Spirit PodcastThe Well-Gardened Mind, Part 2: Dr. Sue Stuart Smith on the Power of Gardens and Nature for Mental Health and Well-BeingDr. Sue Stuart-Smith is a UK-based psychiatrist and psychotherapist, an avid gardener, and the author of The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature. In this second installment of a two-part conversation, Sue reflects on the fundamental human need to connect with the rest of the living world and how we can overcome the modern world’s alienation from nature through equitable access to green spaces. She also offers insights as to how gardens can provide healing from trauma, help us manage stress and burnout through a new relationship to time, give us a sense of agency and hope, an...2023-09-2733 minEarth and Spirit PodcastThe Well-Gardened Mind: Dr. Sue Stuart Smith on the Power of Gardens and Nature for Mental Health and Well-Being – Part 1Dr. Sue Stuart-Smith is a UK-based psychiatrist and psychotherapist, an avid gardener, and the author of The Well-Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature. Over her long career in psychotherapy, Sue has seen the power of gardens and nature connection to heal trauma, cultivate mindfulness and spirituality, navigate anxiety, stress, and burnout, and help us become our full, embodied human selves. In this first of a two-part conversation, Sue and I talk about the co-evolution of gardens and humankind and the essential role nature plays in human physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being. Whether you’re a gardener or not, I...2023-09-1331 min
Space Boffins, from the Naked ScientistsSpace junk, giant claws and dark skiesThis month it's all about the space environment - how do you remove space debris from orbit and make space more sustainable? The Earth Space Sustainability Initiative's (ESSI) Stuart Clark discusses missions to remove dead satellites, and Nick Shave of Astroscale and Clearspace's Rory Holmes explain their missions. Plus, light pollution problems: night skies so bright, some people never see the Moon... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists2023-07-2846 min
Consciencia Amarilla14. Vivir al ritmo de las plantasVivir al ritmo de las plantas, una de las grandes lecciones que me ha dado la montaña, vivir más lento, reflexiones que surgen en este caminar entre la lectura, el tejido y la naturaleza, aquí les comparto experiencias personales que me hacen concluir en la belleza de los procesos, de soltar, y dejar germinar esas semillas que sembramos a lo largo de nuestra vida.Libro: La mente ajardinada. Sue Stuart SmithY Si quieres unirte a esta comunidad y apoyar este proyecto conecta en @ahinco.estudio o en nues...2023-07-0128 min
The Academic LifeThe Fun Habit: How the Pursuit of Joy and Wonder Can Change Your LifeWhen we are tethered to our responsibilities, it can feel like we need someone to give us permission to go have fun. Maybe some of us have begun to forget what “fun” is? And what it feels like to have it? Have we talked ourselves into the idea that fun is just for kids…and that truly responsible people don’t have time for it? Dr. Mike Rucker joins us to explain the value of fun for our personal and our professional life. It turns out, it’s even good for our health.Today’s book is: The Fun Habit...2023-06-2254 min
New Books in PsychologyThe Fun Habit: How the Pursuit of Joy and Wonder Can Change Your LifeWhen we are tethered to our responsibilities, it can feel like we need someone to give us permission to go have fun. Maybe some of us have begun to forget what “fun” is? And what it feels like to have it? Have we talked ourselves into the idea that fun is just for kids…and that truly responsible people don’t have time for it? Dr. Mike Rucker joins us to explain the value of fun for our personal and our professional life. It turns out, it’s even good for our health.Today’s book is: The Fun Habit...2023-06-2254 min
Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant CareThe Power of Therapeutic HorticultureHave you ever thought about the healing power of plants beyond just their aesthetic appeal? As plant parents, we know how much fun it is to take care of our plants, but did you know that therapeutic horticulture is a practice being used in hospitals, retirement homes, and even correctional facilities? Today, we're exploring the concept of therapeutic horticulture with the guidance of expert teacher Hilda Krus, who has been a horticultural therapist for over two decades, working with inmates at Rikers Island, New York's largest jail. Let’s dive in!In this episode, we learn:[08:16] How...2023-05-301h 19
Escuela de terrazasComo evitar los primeros errores con plantas de interior, entrevista a Elena de PlanthaeHoy tenemos con nosotros a Elena Paez, el corazón y alma de Planthae. Un refugio vegetal y gabinete de curiosidades, en el céntrico barrio de La Latina, en pleno corazón de Madrid. Un espacio creado alrededor de las plantas pero que no es… digamos, una tienda de plantas, porque en Planthae encontrarás, no sólo plantas de interior y una cuidada selección de macetas de las que te enamorarás perdidamente, sino que también: Libros de jardinería y plantas que jamás encontrarías juntos en una gran superficie: Gilles Clement, Sue Stuart Sm...2023-05-1222 min
Consciencia Amarilla7. El sentido de la suficiencia¿Qué necesitas? ¿Cuánto hay que tener para escapar del miedo a no tener bastante? ¿Qué necesitas para llevar una vida agradable? Estas y muchas otras interrogantes surgen a partir de un bello libro que me leí: Lecciones de epicureísmo: el arte de la felicidad de John Sellars y quiero compartir con ustedes en este episodio.Aquí les voy a contar un poco el porqué uno de mis lemas de vida es el no necesitar nada, atrae todo y la gratitud como un camino hacia el reconocimiento de la abundancia y plenitud que ya habita en nosotro...2023-04-1226 min
Bedside ReadingThe Well Gardened MindSend us a textI admit that when neonatologist Helen Chitty https://twitter.com/helenchitty4 got in touch to recommend The Well Gardened Mind by Sue Stuart Smith and to ask if she could join me on Bedside Reading I approached the book with some initial scepticism. Isn't gardening just outdoor housework? It turns out my initial apathy was matched by the author's when she had begun her journey into gardens, plants, nature and the power of growing to heal.This is a stunningly good book, made all the better for me by the fact th...2023-03-1438 min