I thought it was worth making a post on horticultural therapy films. I don’t think either has ever been actually referred to as being ‘horticultural therapy’ but they certainly are.
Grow Your Own (2007)
Excellent British made film about political refugees being allocated an allotment in Northern England and their interactions with the local traditionalist allotment gardeners. It is more like a TV movie than a film for the cinema and has a considered approach (others might say “slow”). Anyway, I enjoyed it and it certainly worth watching as John Henshaw is always entertaining.
The IMDB page is here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0847830/
It is currently selling for £5 on Amazon. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Grow-Your-Own-Allotment-DVD/dp/B000TQLIBA/ref=
sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351363869&sr=8-1
Green Fingers (2001)
Based on a true story about a gardening therapy program for prisoners in England which stars Clive Owen and Helen Mirren.
Made by an the American director Joel Hershman who apparently heard about the story of six prisoners from Leyhill prison in England who won a gold medal at the Chelsea flower show.
I must admit I found it a bit obvious and scripted. The horticultural inaccuracies lead me to become somewhat detached from it.
Don’t take my opinion for it, have a watch of it yourself.
Back in 2001 the telegraph wrote an article about how the film came about and the link to the original story. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1334053/Leyhills-prison-gardeners-break-into-the-movies.html
The Horticultural Therapist 