As part of the Cherokee Garden Library’s Ashley Wright McIntyre Lecture Series, join us on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, for a talk by renowned psychiatrist and avid gardener Sue Stuart-Smith, who will discuss her award-winning book,
The Well Gardened Mind: The Restorative Power of Nature (New York: Scribner, 2020).
The garden is often seen as a refuge, a place to forget worldly cares, removed from the “real” life that lies outside. But when we get our hands in the earth, we connect with the cycle of life in nature through which destruction and decay are followed by regrowth and renewal. Drawing on her grandfather’s return from World War I, Sigmund Freud’s obsession with flowers, and interviews with people from gardening projects in prisons, hospitals, and in the community, Dr. Stuart-Smith will discuss how gardening can answer deep existential needs and present findings from recent research showing that connecting to nature alleviates symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression.
The Well-Gardened Mind was published in 2020 and became a Sunday Times, UK bestseller and a Times, UK and Sunday Times, UK book of the year. It has since been translated into eighteen languages.
About the Author
Dr. Sue Stuart-Smith, a prominent psychiatrist and psychotherapist, graduated with a degree in English literature from Cambridge University before going on to train as a doctor. She worked in the National Health Service for many years, becoming the lead clinician for psychotherapy in Hertfordshire. Dr. Stuart-Smith currently works for DocHealth, a not-for-profit service that helps doctors suffering from stress and burnout. She is married to Tom Stuart-Smith, the celebrated garden designer. For over thirty years together, they have created the wonderful Barn Garden in Hertfordshire. Along with her husband Tom, she has founded a not-for-profit initiative called The Serge Hill Project for Gardening, Creativity, and Health, which incorporates a Plant Library and is based in an old orchard at their home in Hertfordshire.
Learn more about Sue Stuart-Smith, The Well-Gardened Mind, and the Barn Garden: www.suestuartsmith.com
“This is a life-affirming study of the special pleasures of growing things.”
—The Guardian
“The wisest book I’ve read in many years. You don’t have to be a gardener or own a garden to take immense solace and pleasure from this remarkable book. Dr. Stuart-Smith doesn’t presume to make absurd and extravagant claims, but everything she says about the mind (and I’ve learned so much in the way of the history of psychiatry and psychology, as well as practical tips for both mind and garden) has the ring of authenticity and truth. Hugely recommended.”
—Stephen Fry
“Must be the most original gardening book ever.”
—John Carey, The Sunday Times, UK
“This is a book so wise and comfortable that it merits a place alongside Christopher Lloyd’s The Well-Tempered Garden by the side of every bed… Her deep understanding of the human psyche makes this a perfect source text as well as an engrossing read.”
—Marian Boswall, Gardens Illustrated, UK
“Combines observation, horticulture, literature, and history… it is a book that builds, chapter by chapter… As a reference and an inspiration… There is much here to feed the soul.”
—Ann Treneman, The Times, UK
“An important and timely book … Sue Stuart-Smith’s book is beautifully written drawing on a lifetime’s experience as both as a clinician and a gardener, and I urge everyone to read it.”
—Monty Don, BBC’s “Gardeners’ World”
Support
The Ashley Wright McIntyre Lectures are made possible with generous funding from the Ashley Wright McIntyre Education and Programming Fund, part of the Cherokee Garden Library Endowment.
