It’s Green Gym, but not as we know it: examining the historical roots of voluntary sector provision of social prescribing focusing on gardening on prescription in the UK

Academic research on green prescriptions tends to locate the history of nature-based health interventions in either the ancient world or in non-Western medical traditions. However, the use of horticulture as therapy is better situated in its use in medical institutions from the late-18th century onward. Though recast as medical therapy, horticultural activities for patients often began as a cost-saving measure. Focusing on tuberculosis sanatoria, the article draws analogies between the institutional use of horticulture as therapy and green prescriptions to provide a critical framework for understanding modern social prescription programmes.