Wellness Gardens Are Trending—Here’s How to Turn Your Yard Into a Peaceful Sanctuary

Your backyard can do more than just serve as the home of cookouts and vegetable gardens. With a little planning, you can turn your yard (or even just a small portion of it) into a place where you can escape and unwind. Enter the wellness garden, which is designed especially for relaxation. Learn all about this hot trend—and how to create one in your own yard (no matter what your budget is).

Why Wellness Gardens Have Become a Hot Trend

Let’s face it—we’re all a bit stressed out. So creating a space that’s dedicated to undoing that just makes sense. “Our yards have become an extension of our homes, especially since covid,” says Kevin Lenhart, landscape architect and design director at Yardzen. “Virtually anything from our lives is now fair game to spill out into our yards, and that includes items and activities related to wellness.”

And some of the spa-like amenities that people are trying to bring into their homes may not squeeze into their indoor spaces as easily as they would in the yard. “With soaking tubs or large saunas, the outdoors is a preferable location for a wellness feature,” Lenhart says.

Benefits of Wellness Gardens

There’s a lot to love about a dedicated outdoor space for wellness, and Lenhart says that many of the benefits of yoga practice, meditation, and other wellness pursuits are amplified when they’re done outdoors. “Simply being outdoors among daylight and plants—trees in particular—offers tons of wellness benefits, from decreased stress to increased creativity. When you relocate an interior wellness activity like yoga to the outdoors, you layer on extra potency to that activity’s capacity to generate wellness.”

Designing Your Perfect Outdoor Wellness Space

While you can go all-in on a grand wellness space—Yardzen is reporting big increases in the number of requests for outdoor showers, saunas, and cold plunge pools, for instance—you don’t have to spend a fortune to create a spa-like atmosphere. Consider these ideas to help you make the most of your wellness garden.

Decide how you’ll use the space

Are you hoping to practice yoga outdoors, or is a daily cold plunge on your to-do list? Focus your budget and your space on the things that you’re likely to use most often.

Keep in mind that some popular features, like saunas, can take up a lot of space, which can be an issue if you have a small yard. “Single use features make a considerable amount of space unavailable for any other activity,” Lenhart says. “If you have limited space, it’s generally in your favor to design for flexible use, creating areas that can accommodate a variety of activities.”

Flexible-use spaces—such as an area for yoga or exercise—can also be turned into a dinner party spot in a pinch, Lenhart says.

Try to work in a water feature

Even if you don’t have space for a cold plunge pool or an outdoor shower, smaller water features like fountains can add to the tranquility. “You can work in a cost-effective water feature like a prefab fountain or simple boulder fountain,” Lenhart suggests.

Consider all the senses

Look for ways to work in natural materials and to soothe all of your senses—fragrant (and beautiful) flowers to smell and look at; natural materials like weathered wood planters and stone pathways to touch; and chimes or water features to add a peaceful soundscape.

Choose plants that bring you joy

For even the tightest budgets, adding a few plants that you love to your wellness-themed yard will work wonders. “Planting is cheaper than structural or hardscape features, and at the same time, adding plants will have a greater wellness payoff than new paving or structures,” Lenhart says.

He suggests focusing on trees as the top addition to a wellness garden. “Native trees will benefit you and your local ecosystem, and I’d argue that the pride you can take in doing something to support biodiversity is in itself a contribution to your personal wellness. We feel better when we help others.”

You can layer in herbs that can help you feel calm, like lavender, chamomile, and lemon balm. Or simply choose to fill your garden with your favorite plants, so you can enjoy the scents and beauty of the flowers. If you think you’ll be more likely to use your wellness yard after dark, a moon garden could be a perfect addition.