Literature Review of Documented Health and Environmental Benefits Derived from Ornamental Horticulture Products

The purpose of the project was to provide the Ornamental Working Group of the Horticulture Value Chain Round Table, through its secretariat in Agriculture and Agri- Food Canada, with a summary of the current state of scientific knowledge related to the benefits from plants and flowers in one’s daily life. The specific objectives of the project were to: 1. Review the published literature from the biological, medical and social sciences to determine whether there were quantifiable physical and psychological benefits to human health, and to the indoor and outdoor environments, that could be linked to the purchase and use of ornamental horticulture products. 2. Recommend wording and/or strategies based on proven science that could form the basis for unique approaches to marketing ornamental plants based on improving lifestyle, health, and the world in which people live, work and play. 3. Identify new opportunities for export and domestic marketing and increased sales of ornamentals beyond the traditional concepts of beautification of the indoor and outdoor environments. 4. Identify opportunities for further investigation into potential but, as yet, unidentified or unquantified benefits. 5. Provide a functional bibliography of sources of further information that could be quoted to justify any future marketing claims if necessary.