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In this special programme, Gardeners’ World takes a close look at the role that plants and gardening are playing in our mental and physical wellbeing, exploring the idea that gardening is good for you.

At Longmeadow, Monty Don plants shrubs and bulbs for spring and catches up on some seasonal tasks.

Arit Anderson travels to a medical centre in Kent where gardening is prescribed by doctors to help patients cope with long-term mental and physical problems. She meets author Florence Williams, who has investigated the science behind the power of the natural world to improve health. Adam Frost is at a community garden in Oxfordshire, which has been created to provide ongoing support for sufferers of Parkinson’s disease, and the show visits the spinal injuries centre at Stoke Mandeville hospital in Aylesbury, where Joe Swift’s challenge is to design an accessible garden for the wellbeing of the patients. And in Essex, the programme finds out how planting a garden full of roses has contributed greatly to the mental wellbeing of the garden owner.