Educational programs began springing up all over the United States. In 1955 at Michigan State the first undergraduate degree in horticulture therapy was awarded and in 1971 the first graduate program was offered at Kansas State University. There are many places that horticulture therapy can be beneficial. Some locations are at hospitals, nursing homes, institutions, rehabilitation facilities, schools, prisons, camps, day care centers, halfway houses, group homes, in communities, hospices, community centers, homeless shelters, in private homes, and offices. The possibilities are truly endless and horticulture can benefit everyone from the elderly to the very young and the homeless to the wealthy.
Horticulture therapy provides a huge variety of activities that a person of any age can preform.
Activities can be varied according to what a person can do and what skills would like to be gained or enhanced. Gardening boxes and surfaces can be created at all levels accommodating those who are in wheelchairs or are unable to bend. Growing and gardening can be done year round. Gardening is easy to carry on out side of the health facility. Plants do not discriminate.