What is a resilience garden?
Resilience Gardens aren’t about Pinterest-perfect beds or endless weeding. They’re not reserved for suburban yards or disconnected from daily life.
They’re about growing what matters: community, connection, and local strength. These gardens support people and ecosystems alike, especially in uncertain times.
And they’re part of something bigger. Resilience Gardens challenge extractive and unjust systems by helping us grow something more rooted, more just, and more alive—right where we are.
They’re grounded in four interconnected forms of resilience: Resource, Ecological, Social, and Emotional.
Whether it’s a small backyard plot or a shared community space, a Resilience Garden helps cultivate what we need to thrive.
Why they matter
The world is changing quickly, and not always gently. But gardens have long been places of strength, care, and renewal.
Whether it’s a food forest in a public park or herbs on a fire escape, gardens can act as local infrastructure for resilience. They give us the tools to grow through crisis and stay connected to what matters.
This movement is about reclaiming our agency, reconnecting with land and each other, and building the kind of future we want to live in.
-
Resilience Gardens grow more than food — they grow capacity. By producing vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, fiber plants, medicinal species, and more, these gardens help reduce dependence on fragile supply chains while also supporting the health and nourishment of those who tend them. They're designed to encourage resource sharing and build community abundance.
-
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world.
-
Gardens can be sites of resistance, healing, and reconnection. Social resilience means creating spaces that act as hubs of connection and are welcoming, accessible, and rooted in justice. Resilience Gardens focus on rebuilding community bonds and restoring growing power to people historically excluded from land and resources.
-
In a world of climate anxiety and disconnection, gardening can be a practice of healing. Emotional resilience means naming grief, cultivating grounded hope, and creating spaces where people can process, connect, and feel supported. These gardens are built to nourish the spirit, not just the soil.