Gardening for Heart Health: Plants, Exercise, and a Little Fun

Skip the gym—gardening delivers cardiovascular benefits with every dig, rake, and weed. WebMD notes that exercise bouts of just 10 minutes improve heart health. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute lists gardening as a moderate activity. For those with limitations, the British charity Thrive’s Carry On Gardening site offers adaptive tools and techniques to keep gardening after heart events or with disabilities.

Heart‑Themed Plants

Many plants bear heart‑related names. Each Latin name links to cultural info in Dave’s Garden PlantFiles.

Tropical / Indoor

• Purple Heart – Tradescantia pallida
• Heartleaf Philodendron – Philodendron hederaceum var. oxycardium
• String of Hearts – Ceropegia woodii
• Bleeding Heart Vine – Clerodendrum thomsoniae
• Heartseed – Cardiospermum halicacabum

Temperate Landscapes

• Hearts‑a‑Burstin – Euonymus americanus
• Bleeding Hearts – Dicentra spp.
• Heart of Jesus – Caladium spp.
• Heartleaf Bergenia – Bergenia cordifolia
• Heartleaf Ice Plant – Aptenia cordifolia

Even more plants have cordate (heart‑shaped) leaves. Can you name one in your garden?

Grow Your Own Heart‑Healthy Foods

WebMD’s top 25 heart‑healthy foods include many garden crops. Depending on your climate, you can grow at least half:

• Cool‑season: Carrots, spinach, broccoli (fall/winter in South, summer in North).
• Nuts: Walnuts (zones 4–8), almonds (zones 8–10; ‘Hall’s Hardy’ to zone 6).
• Berries: Blueberries (acid soil, moist, eastern NA).
• Perennials: Asparagus (permanent bed, rich compost).
• Warm‑season: Red bell peppers (ripe green peppers), tomatoes.
• Citrus: Oranges (frost‑sensitive; dwarf pots elsewhere).
• Sweet Potatoes: Heat‑loving, 80+ days from slips.

Anagram Game: Heart‑Shaped Leaves

Unscramble these common plants with cordate foliage:

1. eilotv → violet
2. abdoossw → basswood
3. abennrru → brunnera
4. tsaoh → hosta
5. beddru → redbud
6. aaaclpt → catalpa
7. eflmnooorw → moonflower
8. igmnnor ygrol → morning glory
9. cagilr admrstu → garlic mustard
10. aakrstu eert → katsura tree
11. accelmny → cyclamen
12. ddehilnnoopr → philodendron

Bonus: How many grow in your garden? Which are also Latin genera? (3, 4, 6). Botanical term for heart‑shaped leaf: cordate; when stem attaches at the point: obcordate.

Raise a glass of tea or red wine (both heart‑helpers) to the love affair between gardeners and gardens. Enjoy!