When Sue Biggs, director general of the Royal Horticultural Society, had breast cancer last year, it was the life-affirming beauty of plants in her garden which helped her pull through. “I wanted to see my new garden grow, to see the wisteria flower again, to walk among plants and take in their scent,” she says.
She speaks highly of the dedicated NHS treatment she received to help her recover, but it is the memories of seeing the changing landscape outside her own window and experiencing the sheer potency of the natural world, which brings the most light to her eyes as she reflects.
“If horticulture was prescribed as therapy, our health would be much better and then we wouldn’t need to spend so much on treatment from GPs,” she said in a recent radio interview. It’s a belief that bolsters her professional mission to make green the country, as she hosts this week’s 25th anniversary of the RHS Hampton Court Palace flower show.
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