# Healthcare, Senior Living & Wellness

> Calm, green places for patients, residents, families and staff: views, courtyards and healing gardens for clinics, senior living and wellness practices.

**Summary:** Calm, green places for patients, residents, families and staff: views, courtyards and healing gardens for clinics, senior living and wellness practices.

![A garden of catmint, lamb's ear and perennials around a birdbath](https://healingearthdesignbysarah.com/rails/active_storage/blobs/redirect/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6NDE3LCJwdXIiOiJibG9iX2lkIn19--50adb8e804825f676cac913973880e26a6071e79/IMG_0569.webp)

## A view of green has been measured in recovery.

**Intro:** In a well-known study, surgical patients whose windows looked out on trees went home sooner and needed fewer strong painkillers than patients who looked at a brick wall. Staff with views of nature take fewer sick days. For senior living and wellness practices, gardens also shape how families feel on a tour. Healing gardens are close to why this business exists.

- Calmer arrivals — An entrance that feels like a garden, not a parking lot, settles people before they walk in.
- Views from rooms and lounges — Planting placed where people actually look out: patient rooms, waiting areas, dining rooms.
- Gardens residents can use — Raised beds, accessible paths and sensory plantings for residents to tend and enjoy.
- Staff who get a break — A quiet garden corner gives staff somewhere to step away during a long shift.

- 7.96 vs. 8.70 — days in hospital after surgery for patients with a window view of trees, against those facing a brick wall. — <https://www.wrrc.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/ulrich-view%20through%20a%20window.pdf>
- 1.13 vs. 3.96 — negative nurse notes per patient: tree view against brick-wall view. — <https://www.wrrc.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/ulrich-view%20through%20a%20window.pdf>
- 57 vs. 68 — hours of sick leave a year for staff with views of nature against those with none. — <https://www.rics.org/content/dam/ricsglobal/documents/standards/the-economics-of-biophilia_terrapin-bright-green-230818-mb.pdf>

**What we'd plant:** - Healing and sensory gardens with accessible paths
- Raised beds residents can garden in
- Plantings outside patient and resident windows
- Medicinal and tea herb gardens
- Seasonal containers at entrances for families arriving

**Calculator: label for that figure:** Annual revenue

**Calculator: uplift, low (%):** 0.1

**Calculator: uplift, high (%):** 0.5

**Calculator: where the uplift comes from:** Uplift of 0.1% to 0.5% of revenue, deliberately small. The strongest evidence here is clinical (Ulrich, 1984), not financial. The money comes indirectly: families on tours, occupancy and staff retention. No study measures those for plantings, so the range is narrow and the real case is wellbeing.

**Planner choice:** Healthcare, senior living or wellness

- Can you design gardens residents can use? — Yes: raised beds at comfortable heights, smooth paths, places to sit and plants chosen for scent, texture and safety.
- Do you design medicinal or herb gardens? — Yes. Medicinal herbs are a specialty; see the herb spiral in our case studies.
- How does a commercial project start? — With a visit to the property, on-site or virtual. We look at sun, soil, drainage, how people arrive and what you want the place to feel like, and then send a plan with clear next steps and a price.

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Source: https://healingearthdesignbysarah.com/industries/healthcare-senior-living
Updated: 2026-10-12