Shift Your Mood With Flower Power? (Yes, Actually, Science Says You Can!)

The influence of flower color on how we feel

Who doesn’t love to be surprised with a bouquet of flowers?

We give flowers for all kinds of reasons. To express love. To celebrate. To grieve. When someone is sick. When someone needs to be uplifted. When we want to make someone feel extra special.

But did you know the science behind our preferences for flower color and how these colors affect our mood has grown?

Let’s dive in!

What we know about flower color

As the science around nature therapy expands, we know that flowers are a significant aspect of our landscapes, and our homes, when we include flowering plants.

We know that color plays a significant role in how we perceive landscapes. Certain colors typically elicit emotions: Red excites and arouses; Blue calms and relaxes; Green creates equilibrium; while Yellow is uplifting.

Brightly colored warm-tone flowers can alter our heart rate variability.

Green foliage plants can induce a sense of relaxation and reduce distractions.

But do our flower color preferences align with these flower-induced feelings? Do we actually respond to flower color this way?

Photo by Aejaz Memon on Unsplash

Can landscapes be designed to influence emotion?

A 2023 study in the journal Urban Forestry and Urban Greening set out to better understand people’s emotional responses and preferences for specific flower colors. The researchers were looking for how flower color aligned with mood and what implications this might have for long term health. But on a more practical level, they wanted to see how landscapes might be designed to specifically influence the way people feel.

Images of flowers were photoshopped to fall within specific color spectrums: blue, purple, white, orange, red, pink, yellow, and brown. Participants (n=670) were shown the flower pictures and asked a series of questions to evaluate their mood and preferences.

Survey questions included:

‘Which of these following plant communities do you like best?’

“Can you say why?”

“Which plant community do you find the most uplifting and which do you find the most relaxing?”

“Rank the images in terms of most uplifting”

Demographic questions included their affinity for nature, whether they lived in suburban or urban settings, whether they gardened and their frequency of gardening, favorite color, age, sex, etc.

Photo by Dalibor Perina on Unsplash

And the results . . .

Based on the survey results, white flowers were the most popular, followed by blue and then orange. White flowers were described with words like ‘bright’, ‘happy’, ‘natural’, ‘peaceful'‘.

When asked which flowers were the most uplifting, that prize went to orange flowers first, followed by white, yellow, and red. Interestingly, orange was most strongly preferred as uplifting by 18-34 year olds, while red was the most uplifting to participants 55 and older. And white flowers ended up on both lists as relaxing and as uplifting.

Blue and white flowers were considered the most relaxing, suggesting that these colors hold the most promise for the creation of relaxing landscapes (or relaxing images of flowers to be viewed) by the broadest number of people. That makes blue and white the highest ranked for therapeutic value.

There was a strong preference among participants for choosing their favorite color as the most uplifting. So for example, people who indicated purple was their favorite color also chose purple flowers as the most uplifting.

It also turned out that when participants were screened for their frequency of gardening, gardeners had a much broader range of flower colors selected as uplifting. (That might help explain the color chaos preferred by some gardeners - I am raising my hand here - because I do think I love them all).

What does this mean for you?

When it comes to designing landscapes, the prevalence of all white or all blue flowers seems to be the winner for calm, relaxing and peaceful environments. While stronger colors like orange, red and yellow provide uplifting vibes that are more activating. If you are trying to create a consistent emotion in your home or landscape, then planning your garden around one of these color patterns might be helpful.

And if you are designing your landscape for yourself, then focusing on your favorite color will have the most uplifting effect possible.

I think that florists have known these color associations for generations. What was interesting about the study is that it distinguished the role of personal preference from the overall effect of the color, and hinted at potentially shifting preferences as we age or gain experience with flowers through gardening.

It also made me think about designing specific parts of my garden for different reasons and uses. A mostly white garden area around my deck where I like to make sense has been slowly emerging over the years, and a jazzier red and yellow theme for the vegetable garden to energize the activity there is something I might try to create this summer.

Have you used flower color in your landscape for a purpose? Share your favorites in the comments.

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The Naturalized Human brings together the science and human experience of the mind-body-food connection. I hope you stick around and become part of this community seeking to understand how the food we eat, and the environments we live in, impact everything about our minds and bodies.