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 Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 79 (2023) 127795

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Urban Forestry & Urban Greening

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ufug

Original article

Flowers – Sunshine for the soul! How does floral colour influence
preference, feelings of relaxation and positive up-lift?
Liwen Zhang *, 1, Nicola Dempsey , Ross Cameron 1
Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Sheffield, The Arts Tower, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Dr Cecil Konijnendijk van den The natural environment is increasingly valued for its positive effect in retaining/restoring good mental health.
Bosch Landscape architects are now challenged to embed therapeutic aspects within certain landscape designs, but
what does this mean in practice? Flower colour has been one area that has attracted attention as potentially
Keywords: improving the restorative aspects of a designed landscape. In this research, 670 UK residents were surveyed to
Flower colours
examine their preferences and emotional responses to flower colour using computer-generated images of ‘daisy-
Mental health
like’ flowers in 8 separate colours. Results showed that white, blue and orange were the most preferred flower
Restorative effect
Self-expressed preference colours. The data suggested, however, two separate phenomena were determining the psychological benefits
Therapeutic associated with flower colour. The first is that there are some generic responses associated with key floral colours
Uplifted emotions – flowers in blue play an effective role in relaxation/stress reduction; and warm colours - orange, yellow and red
evoke uplifted emotions and deliver better positive affect. Interestingly, white was a colour that could both relax
and provide uplifted emotions. The second phenomenon though, suggests that additionally and independently,
an individual preference for a particular colour can also elicit positive psychological benefits, irrespective of
what that particular colour is. In effect, favoured colours have a separate restorative effect that acts at a personal
level. This finding has significance for landscape architects in that certain flower colours can be used to promote
‘generic’ therapeutic responses in appropriate locations, but that components of any designed landscape still
need to take some account of personal responses and preferences.

1. Introduction to healing, is one mode of action to reduce the occurrence of mental

illness in the first place (Burls, 2007) and provides restorative effects to
“Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; they those suffering from more mild forms of it (William et al., 2009).
are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” Luther Burbank – Empirical studies have demonstrated that contact with natural en-
Plant Breeder. vironments (van den Berg et al., 2003; Bowler et al., 2010; Pasanen
et al., 2018) and semi-natural environments (Groenewegen et al., 2006;
Poor mental health affects 19% of adults, 46% of teenagers, and 13%
Kondo et al., 2018; Cameron et al., 2020; Chalmin-Pui, et al., 2021a;
of children worldwide, each year (Swetaa et al., 2019). It is the
2021b) offer effective ways of obtaining better mental health. The
second-largest cause of disease and health disorders in England, UK (The
causes of mental illness are complex and varied, and the mechanisms for
Mental Health First Aid, MHFA). Despite this, 70–75% of people with
better health or restoration may be similarly complex. A number of
diagnosable mental illness receive no formal therapeutic interventions
underlying theories exist in relation to benefits associated with the
(Alonso et al., 2018). An increased emphasis on prevention rather than
natural world with respect to mental health. Commonly cited ones
cure (Scott et al., 2019) and holistic therapies (Greenleaf et al., 2014)
include the attention restoration theory (Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989),
has highlighted the need for more opportunities for mental restoration
stress reduction theory (Ulrich, 1983; Ulrich et al., 1991) and the posi-
to be gained through ‘everyday activities’ and lifestyle changes,
tive affect theory (Bratman et al., 2015; Richardson et al., 2016;
particularly those that reduce stress or loneliness (Rentala et al., 2015).
Cameron et al., 2020). Although there are overlaps among the theories,
Green (or eco-) therapy, an umbrella term for nature-based approaches
effectively the first two deal with alleviation of physiological stress

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (L. Zhang), [email protected] (N. Dempsey), [email protected] (R. Cameron).
1
Joint first authors

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127795
Received 15 March 2022; Received in revised form 16 November 2022; Accepted 21 November 2022
Available online 24 November 2022
1618-8667/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier GmbH. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
L. Zhang et al. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 79 (2023) 127795

through noticing relaxing or distracting elements within the natural or feel positive affect (‘uplift’). Not only is flower colour a good example
world, while the third theory suggests positive mental health is main- of the type of detail that occurs within a designed landscape, but its
tained by experiencing exciting or positive things in nature; aspects that study is further justified as:
make one happy. As all theories outlined above have an element of
protection against (salutogenesis), and restoration from, poor mental 1. Colour is a primary factor people notice when entering a landscape,
health, they are referred to within this paper for their capacity to simply and is a major determinant when selecting flowering plants or cut
promote good or positive psychological health. flowers (Hansen and Alvarez, 2010).
A number of the theories above imply a ‘dose effect’. The more in- 2. Emotional responses to colour has been studied in other contexts
cidents of emotional uplift (i.e. ‘happy events’) an individual encounters (O’Connor, 2011; Gul et al., 2015; Jonauskaite et al., 2020) and these
the greater the resilience against poor mental health (Teismann et al., provide a comparison for this study. Such studies suggest psycho-
2019; Barnes et al., 2019; Keenan et al., 2021). Similarly, environments logical responses varying with colour; red is used to excite, activate
that promote opportunities for frequent relaxation can reduce physio- and arouse, blue to calm and relax, green to offer equilibrium, and
logical stress (Berto, 2014; Chalmin-Pui et al., 2021b); prolonged stress yellow to uplift (Aktekin & Şimaşek, 2012; Azeemi et al., 2019).
itself, being considered a precursor to both psychological (e.g. Stogner However, colour therapies are typically conducted in artificial not
et al., 2020) and physiological (e.g. Miller et al., 2011) health com- natural environments (Aktekin and Şimaşek, 2012; Vaquero-Blasco
plaints. Experiencing frequent, regular periods of emotional uplift or et al., 2020).
periods of relaxation provide resilience against certain forms of poor 3. Existing research recognises the restorative role played by flowers
mental health. Thus, in this research, short-term emotional responses per se (i.e. without specifying the effect of individuals colours).
are recorded (self-reported feelings of uplift and relaxation) and used as Haviland-Jones et al. (2005) established that flowers, can positively
proxies (indicators) of resilience against more significant and long-term contribute to psychological well-being. Hoyle et al. (2017) noted that
mental health problems. This does not imply of course, that mental the public view brightly coloured flowers as extremely attractive and
health is solely determined by an accumulation of short-term emotions. stimulating.
Nevertheless, such proxies are useful to help determine what aspects of 4. Several studies have acknowledged the restorative function of plant
landscape may or may not be salutogenic. or flower colour. Neale et al. (2021) showed that warm flower col-
Despite numerous studies on green therapy, there is still a deficiency ours altered heart rate variability and linked this to a restorative
in understanding how elements of the landscape act or combine to in- influence. Elsadek and Fujii (2014) suggested that entirely green
fluence human health (Gatersleben and Andrews, 2013). For example, plants promote a more comfortable environment compared to
more information is required on how relatively small-scale ‘quality as- green-red and green-white variegated plants. Kexiu et al. (2021)
pects’ of green space (e.g. noticing an individual bird or a wildflower) indicated a cultural context; green and green-white foliage plants
can impact psychological health (Collins et al., 2020). Research has enhanced relaxation and calmness in Japanese residents, while light
shown that in non-natural settings (indoor rooms), small-scale in- green and green-yellow were the hues that were preferred for
terventions such as a picture or photograph of a natural object or scene, inducing calm in Egyptian participants. Most studies focus on foliage
can affect the mood of those that view them (Jo et al., 2019). A phe- colour, with early studies on plant preferences/restorative effects
nomenon that has been exploited by hospitals who, for example, may intentionally avoiding colours other than green to remove distrac-
wish to calm their patients whilst waiting or recovering from medical tions (Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989). Nevertheless, both positive affect
interventions (Beukeboom et al., 2012). These studies imply small scale and stress restoration may be influenced by floral colour, indepen-
interventions can influence emotions, but also by doing so, influence dent from foliage hue, thus warranting further study here.
medical outcomes. 5. Many previous studies on flower colour are: based on anecdotal
These factors are important, because increasingly landscape archi- observations rather than controlled experiments, had only limited
tects are being asked to design ‘therapeutic landscapes’, as preventative participants (≤ 30) or sample populations (e.g. just students), or
measure against negative emotions or excessive stress, but also as evaluated only a limited range of colours (Li et al., 2012; Jang et al.,
restorative environments for those that are suffering poor mental health 2014). Thus, this research aimed to both extend the choice of flower
or trauma. Yet there is limited information on what specifically should colour and increase/widen the participant base.
be included in such therapeutic landscapes, and where recommenda-
tions are provided these are often based on anecdotal evidence rather Nevertheless, previous studies on flower colour per se provide some
than empirical data. Features quoted as being therapeutic within insight into psychological responses. Positive emotions and comments
designed landscapes include water, (non-threatening) fauna, ‘natural’ have been linked to orange, red, yellow, red-purple and pink flowers
sounds and colourful flowers. Yet, little further detail is provided – what (Wilson, 2011; Jang et al., 2014; Pavlova, 2015; Paddle & Gilliland,
types and colour of flowers for example? Indeed, does something like 2016; Hoyle et al., 2017), whereas other colours (purple, white, blue,
flower colour matter at all? Presumably for a landscape as a whole to be white and blue-purple) have been associated with a relaxation effect
therapeutic it, then it needs to be composed of smaller features such as (Wilson, 2011; Li et al., 2012; Jang et al., 2014; Pavlova, 2015; Hoyle
plantings that are themselves beneficial from an emotional perspective. et al., 2017). This research aimed to verify if these findings are generic,
For many ecosystem services, the level of the benefit is defined by quite by increasing the number of participants and controlling for contextual
subtle, small-scale factors (Cameron and Blanusa, 2016); but is this true factors (variable locations, plant species, conflicts with foliage influ-
of emotional responses to natural features too, in essence does the detail ence). Even if a single location and plant species is chosen, temporal
matter (Jo et al., 2019)? factors such as weather at the time of viewing, plant development over
Thus, this research focussed on how the ‘fine-grained’ detailed as- time (including some flowers fading in colour), or variations in back-
pects of landscape might impact on emotional responses and how such ground noise, may mean participants have slightly different experiences
responses act as proxy for wider health issues. Previous research from of the floral display. Thus, virtual processes (electronic questionnaire
this group (Chalmin-Pui et al., 2021a) indicated that small scale in- with images) were employed rather than using real plants, whilst rec-
terventions (such as a container of flowering bulbs and annual plants ognising this approach also has limitations (Sevenant and Antrop, 2011;
placed outside the front door of a house) had a significant effect on stress Voit et al., 2019). Questionnaires using photographs have been used
levels and cortisol profiles in the household owners; many of which before to elicit responses to flower colour (Li et al., 2012; Hůla and Flegr,
noted flower colour as an important element. Therefore, this research 2016; Neale et al., 2021), and whilst this approach does not immerse the
aimed to address one aspect of landscape detail – namely flower colour; participant in the landscape in the way that an in vivo experiment
and how people respond to this in terms of preference, capacity to relax would, it can still be used to determine preferences as well as emotional

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L. Zhang et al. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 79 (2023) 127795

and physiological responses (Jo et al., 2019). Photographs can also 2. Methods
indicate or imply ‘mass plantings’, more akin to an in vivo landscape
than perhaps individual flowers or pots of flowers displayed in a labo- 2.1. Online questionnaire design and procedure
ratory can (Jang et al., 2014; Xie et al., 2021). A photo-based ques-
tionnaire has the added advantage of allowing for a greater number of A questionnaire was designed to capture participants’ preference for
participants over a given time, and thus aid statistical robustness. and positive psychological responses to flower colour (Fig. 1; Appendix
Preference for a given flower colour (as a defined parameter separate A). Both multiple-choice and open-ended questions were used, and there
to uplift or relaxation) was included in this study, to see if preference was a section on demographic characteristics, especially factors that
aligned with feeling of emotional uplift or relaxation. Previous research may influence participants’ perception of designed landscapes or plants
suggests that environmental preference and restoration may be closely (e.g. where they live or how often they garden) (Sang et al., 2016). A
related e.g. on landscape type (Herzog et al., 2003; van den Berg et al., series of PSS (Perceived Stress Scale) questions were included as a
2003) and the number of biotic features (trees, flowers, animals) present measure of how stressful participants felt their lives were around the
(Wang et al., 2019). Restorative effects due to animals may be taxon time of the survey. The PSS (Cohen et al., 1983) is a recognised psy-
specific (e.g. many people prefer birds to insects, for example, and thus chological tool for measuring an individual’s perception of stress. It is
find the former more therapeutic to watch) (McGinlay et al., 2017). clinically validated and widely used by the UK’s national (NHS) and
Preference may be an important component of floral studies. Florist shop other health services.
customers preferred red, lavender and pink flowers over blue, white or Images used within the questionnaire exploited a photomontage
yellow flowers (Behe et al., 1999; Yue and Behe, 2010). In roadside technique developed by Wang et al. (2017; 2019) and Deng et al. (2020),
plantings, Todorova et al. (2004) found equal preference for a diverse and these allow key landscape components to be featured without
range of flower colours. In contrast, Hůla and Flegr (2016) found blue interference from other extraneous factors. The photomontage images
was the most preferred flower colour, followed by pink and purple with were created in Photoshop CC 2017 (Adobe Inc., San Jose, CA, USA) and
yellow being least popular. Comparisons were made across different were manipulated to meet the following conditions: 1. Each image
flower genotypes however, and potentially flower form and cultural presented a ‘daisy-like’ (Asteraceae) flower — Aster × frikartii ’Mönch’
symbolism partially explain a lack of consistency in results across these — blue, Osteospermum ’Margarita Cool Purple’ — purple, Aster ager-
studies. atoides ’Starshine’ — white, Gazania rigens ’Kiss Orange Flame’ — or-
Thus, the aim of this research was to further understand people’s ange, Helenium ’Ruby Tuesday’ — red, Osteospermum ’Tresco Pink’ —
preferences and emotional responses to this individual, but important pink, Helenium ‘Butterpat’ — yellow and Chrysanthemum ’Spartan
element of nature, i.e. flower colour. Results here will help illustrate Linnet’ — brown/maroon. 2. Flower colour was distinguished, by
how small scale factors, such as flower colour, might affect mood, and ensuring a dominant hue occupied > 2/3 of the flower’s surface, and
thus have implications for longer term psychological health. In a more background hue was green. 3. Perspective angle and number/size of
practical sense, it will allow landscape architects to understand better flowers were similar across images 4. The quality and size of images
how flower colour and composition could be used in the landscape to were the same — PPI = 300, resolution = 945px* 945px, with artificial
influence psychological health, where this is required, and how different blurring being imposed at edges to represent an ‘out of focus’ periphery
colours may provide alternative benefits to different user groups. The that can occur in genuine photographs. Despite these approaches it was
research used images of a naturalistic floral composition style still possible that some variation in clarity, brightness or saturation of
(mimicking that found in a meadow or informal garden setting) to the images may have resulted due to the different devices used by par-
specifically address how flower colour in a garden/designed landscape ticipants (screen size, colour settings etc.), but strong differentiation in
context 1. Affects preference, 2. Promotes relaxation, 3. Promotes an colour between the options should still have been apparent.
uplifted emotion and 4. Determines if there is a relationship between A respondent’s preference for a certain flower colour was evaluated
preference and these potential health-promoting effects. by posing the question ‘Which of these following plant communities do
you like best?’ and giving a choice of eight options (Fig. 1). Subsequent
questions asked; which plant community do you find the most uplifting
and which do you find the most relaxing? Participants were also asked to

Fig. 1. Flower images in eight different colours. A - blue, B - purple, C - white, D - orange, E - red, F - pink, G - yellow and H - brown.

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L. Zhang et al. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 79 (2023) 127795

rank the images in terms of most uplifting, and most relaxing, with Table 1
rankings being converted to scores for subsequent analyses. i.e. highest Demographic profile of participants’ (n = 670) (percentage of total in paren-
rank = 8, lowest rank = 1. If a colour was not given a ranking, it was thesis) and attitudes to plant and health related factors.
automatically allocated a value of 1. Age Like Plants
The online questionnaire survey was built on the dedicated web- 18–24 110 (16%) Like very much 531 (79%)
platform SmartSurvey (https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/), and was 25–34 151 (23%) Like 110 (16%)
35–44 95 (14%) Neither like/dislike 24 (4%)
available from 20 August-20 November 2020, after ethical clearance
45–54 85 (13%) Not very much 4 (1%)
and a pilot study was implemented at the University of Sheffield (data 55–64 97 (14%) Not at all 1 (0%)
not included). An online questionnaire was chosen during this period 65 + 132 (20%) Like Flower Gardens
(rather than in person) due to Covid-19 restrictions being in place, and Gender Like very much 411 (61%)
Male 147 (22%) Like 213 (32%)
allowing for a greater number of respondents to complete the survey.
Female 508 (76%) Neither like/dislike 40 (6%)
Participants were adults ≥ 18 years, resident in the UK and could Non-binary/third gender 9 (1%) Not very much 6 (1%)
terminate the questionnaire at any point. Data was treated anony- I prefer not to say 6 (1%) Not at all 0 (0%)
mously. A link to the questionnaire was promoted through emails, Living Environment Stress Level
websites, social media and other online discussion platforms. Urban 239 (36%) Low 154 (23%)
Suburban 330 (49%) Moderate 445 (66%)
Rural 101 (15%) High 71 (11%)
2.2. Online questionnaire data analysis Nature Relatedness Gardening Frequency
Very low 14 (2%) Rarely/never 143 (21%)
Statistical analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics for Low 54 (8%) 2–3 times a month 130 (19%)
Moderate 69 (10%) Once a week 92 (14%)
Windows 26.0 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA). Continuous variables
High 190 (28%) 2–3 times a week 180 (27%)
were described as means with standard errors (SE), whereas categorical Very high 343 (51%) Daily 125 (19%)
variables were presented as frequencies with percentages. On the advice
of a statistician, Chi-square tests include Fisher’s exact tests and Pear-
son’s chi-square tests (P = 0.05 as significance level) were conducted to
identify all significant demographic variables. Fisher’s exact tests were
carried out to examine correlations between people’s preferences for
flower colours, uplifted emotions and relaxation. Scored data were
analysed via ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc tests used to differentiate
scores based on significant differences (P ≤ 0.05, different letter in fig-
ures indicating whether mean values were significantly different from
each other). Further investigations explored the extent to which pref-
erence for a colour influenced its capacity to relax or provide uplift for
an individual, by comparing the proportions of participants that stated
their favour colour was also most relaxing or uplifting. Fisher’s exact
tests again being used to explore the significance of these relationships.
To find out why people prefer a certain flower colour, an open-ended
question “Can you say why?” was followed. Participants’ responses to
this question were organised into eight files in NVivo 2020 (QSR In-
ternational Pty Ltd., Doncaster, Australia) based on their favourite Fig. 2. Percent of respondents who stated the colours they preferred or felt they
flower colour. A word frequency query was run on each file using ‘the were most uplifting or relaxing when presented with computer-generated floral
Wizard’ in the software to list the most frequently occurring words in compositions, n = number of respondents answering.
participants’ answers. The text match level of the query was adjusted to
level 3, meaning that exact words, words with same stem and synonyms their choice, respondents mentioned the words ‘bright’, ‘happy’, ‘natu-
(words with a very close meaning) were counted together. For example, ral’, ‘calming’ and ‘peaceful’ when choosing white. Words associated
words like “bright”, “brightly” and “brightness” are all counted as with blue were ‘bright’, ‘calming’, ‘natural’ and ‘relaxing’. ‘Bright’ and
“bright”. ‘happy’ were also linked with orange, but so were ‘warm’ and ‘uplifting’.
Brown was the least preferred flower colour (2%) (Fig. 2).
3. Results The only significant demographic factor affecting colour preference
was respondents’ age (P < 0.001). Over all, white was the most popular
3.1. Demographic characteristics of the sample colour among all other age groups, except for people aged 55–64
(Table 2). Only 14% of 55–64 year olds cited white as their favourite,
Most respondents (n = 670) were female (76%, Table 1) or fell into whereas red (24%) and blue (23%) were most popular with this age
the 25–34 or 65 + age groups. The majority of respondents lived in group. In contrast, red was very unpopular with 18–24 year olds, with
either a suburban or urban environment but considered themselves to only 2% stating it as their preferred colour (Table 2).
have a strong relationship with nature. The questionnaire attracted a
large proportion of keen gardeners, with approximately 46% stating
they gardened 2–3 times a week or more frequently, with 79% and 61% 3.3. Uplifting flower colours
stating they liked ‘very much’, plants and flower gardens respectively
(Table 1). Most participants considered their stress levels to be low or Orange compositions were seen as most uplifting (21%), followed by
moderate, with only 11% expressing high-stress levels (Table 1). white (17%), yellow (15%) and red (15%) (Fig. 2). Age again influenced
the colours that respondents considered most uplifting (P < 0.001).
3.2. Preference Orange was quoted most frequently by 18–34 year olds, with 35–44 year
olds quoting orange and yellow equally, and 45–54 year olds citing
Based on the images presented in the questionnaire, white floral yellow, red and white equally (Table 3). Red was most uplifting for those
compositions were the most popular (preferred by 26%), followed by older than 55 (Table 3).
blue (18%) and orange (16%) (Fig. 2). When asked the reasons behind Using scored data for an uplifting response, indicated that the

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L. Zhang et al. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 79 (2023) 127795

Table 2
Preferred flower colour. Percentage of participants (n = 670) by age.
Percent

Blue Purple White Orange Red Pink Yellow Brown

Age
18–24 13 7 36 24 2 7 9 2
25–34 23 5 26 23 9 8 5 3
35–44 16 21 25 13 11 5 8 1
45–54 19 8 28 14 16 4 7 3
55–64 23 14 14 12 24 8 4 0
65 + 15 20 23 10 15 10 43 4
Total 18 13 26 16 12 7 6 2

Table 3
Most uplifting flower colour. Percentage of participants who expressed an opinion (n = 458) by age.
Percent

Blue Purple White Orange Red Pink Yellow Brown

Age
18–24 8 1 20 31 3 16 18 3
25–34 12 10 23 25 7 5 17 0
35–44 5 15 8 23 15 10 23 3
45–54 12 5 19 15 19 9 19 0
55–64 15 7 14 18 25 8 14 0
65 + 9 19 18 13 21 13 6 2
Total 10 10 17 21 15 10 15 1

frequency of gardening had some influence on the results. For those respondents choosing these colours (Fig. 2).
people (46%) who gardened 2–3 times a week or more frequently The correlations between respondents’ most relaxing flower colours
(defined as ‘Frequent’, Fig. 3) all colours were seen as equally uplifting, and their demographic factors were examined by Chi-square tests.
except blue and brown, which had significantly lower scores. Infrequent Fisher’s exact test indicated that one demographic factor (living envi-
gardeners though, defined orange as a significantly more uplifting ronment) had a significant (P < 0.001) association with respondents’
colour than all others except yellow (Fig. 3). Yellow was more uplifting perception of the most relaxing colour. In urban and suburban envi-
than blue, purple, pink and brown, but not white or red for these ronments, approximately equal numbers of respondents thought blue
infrequent gardeners. Brown had a significantly lower score than all and white were relaxing (Table 4), whereas, in the rural population, blue
other colours (Fig. 3). (54%) was considered more relaxing than white (18%).
Scored data showed no difference (P = 0.86) between frequent and
non-frequent gardeners in terms of relaxation, and blue and white were
3.4. Relaxing flower colours again seen as significantly more relaxing than other colours (Fig. 4). In
both groups, purple was deemed more relaxing than red, yellow or
Of the whole sample, 76% (507) found the plant communities brown (Fig. 4).
relaxing. There was also a degree of consensus on the most relaxing
colours, with blue (40%) and white (32%) being seen as most relaxing
3.5. Relationships between self-expressed preference, uplifted emotions
(Fig. 2). Purple (11%) was considered by some as relaxing, but most
and relaxation
other colours were rarely considered relaxing, with less than 6% of

Not all respondents indicated a most uplifting or a most relaxing

colour in the questionnaire, but about 2/3 of the total population did.
Comparisons for these respondents were carried out with respect to their
preferred colour. A Fisher’s exact test detected a strong link between
respondents’ preferred flower colour and the most uplifting flower
colour (n = 458, P < 0.01). The link was relatively consistent, with 54%
choosing the same flower colour as their preferred option. A high con-
sistency was applied to all eight different flower colours (Fig. 5).
Interestingly, colours of flowers that are not usually classified as
uplifting, such as blue and purple, also delivered strong uplifting re-
sponses in those who preferred them (Fig. 5).
Among the eight different flower colours, orange had the highest
uplifted emotion score, 2.89 ± 0.12 (mean ± standard error; specific
data not shown, but refer to Fig. 3 for colour comparisons as defined by
frequency of gardening), but this was still significantly less than the
score respondents attributed to their preferred colour (mean 3.82
Fig. 3. Scored data for the most ‘uplifting’ colours as defined by those who
gardened frequently (Frequent) and those who did not (Non-Frequent). Letters ± 0.14), again suggesting that a favourite colour (irrespective of the
denote statistical differences within each population (P ≤ 0.05), so comparisons actual colour) was strongly linked to positive emotions. Similarly, re-
within a population are valid, for example within the Frequent group orange (a) spondents rarely considered a colour uplifting (1.91 ± 0.06) if it was a
has significantly greater score than e.g. blue (b), but not purple (ab). Com- colour they did not prefer.
parisons across the two populations are not valid. A Fisher’s exact test detected a significant correlation between

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L. Zhang et al. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 79 (2023) 127795

Table 4
Most relaxing flower colour. Percentage of participants who expressed an opinion (n = 440) by living environment.
Percent

Blue Purple White Orange Red Pink Yellow Brown

Living Environment
Urban 39 5 35 7 2 5 3 4
Suburban 37 15 33 4 1 5 3 1
Rural 54 9 18 4 12 1 1 0
Total 40 11 32 5 3 5 3 2

Fig. 4. Scored data for the most ‘relaxing’ colours as defined by those who
Fig. 6. The relationship between respondents (n = 440) preferred colour (x
gardened most frequently (Frequent) and those who did not (Non-Frequent).
axis) and the colour they find most relaxing (y axis). Data based on a percentage
Letters denote statistical differences within each population (P ≤ 0.05), so
basis. So of the respondents who cite e.g. red as their preferred colour,
comparisons within a population are valid, for example within the Frequent
approximately 16% consider red as most relaxing, but 33% of this population
group blue (a) has significantly greater score than e.g. purple (b), but purple is
consider blue the most relaxing colour.
not significantly greater than pink (bc). Comparisons across the two pop-
ulations are not valid.
yellow, quoted blue as the most relaxing (Fig. 6).
Examination of the score data confirmed blue (3.65 ± 0.13) and
white (3.44 ± 0.13) as the most relaxing colours (specific data not
shown, but refer to Fig. 4 for colour comparisons as defined by frequency
of gardening). Although these were significantly higher than other col-
ours, they were still lower than the mean relaxation score many re-
spondents gave their preferred colours (3.79 ± 0.14). As before, a less
favoured colour was deemed to have a low relaxation value (mean =
1.92 ± 0.06) irrespective of colour; a significantly lower value than the
preferred colour.
Notably, a further Fisher’s exact test detected a significant correla-
tion between respondents’ most uplifting flower colours and the most
relaxing flower colours (n = 390, P < 0.001). Overall, 32.3% of re-
spondents chose the same flower colours for both uplifting their emo-
tions and relaxing them (data not shown). White was chosen by 42
individuals as both the most uplifting and most relaxing flower colour
(data not shown). Similarly, 34 people cited blue as the colour that both
Fig. 5. The relationship between respondents (n = 458) preferred colour (x provided them with the greatest uplift and the greatest feelings of
axis) and the colour they find most uplifting (y axis). Data based on a per- relaxation (data not shown).
centage basis. So of the respondents who cite e.g. blue as their preferred colour,
40% of these consider blue to be the most uplifting colour. 4. Discussion

respondents’ preferred flower colour and the one they found most 4.1. Emotional responses
relaxing (n = 440, P < 0.001). Consistency was studied by comparing
their choices. More than half of the respondents (57%) chose the most Blue and white were deemed the most relaxing flower colours when
relaxing colour in line with their preferred flower colour. The extent to presented as informal drifts of a single colour (as depicted by semi-
which respondents saw their favourite colour as relaxing though, varied natural plant community presented within a digital format). Self-
with the colour (Fig. 6). Amongst those respondents who preferred blue, reporting ranking and subsequent scoring showed these colours to be
93% considered it relaxing; likewise, for white, 77% thought it was significantly more relaxing than other colours presented to the partici-
relaxing and similarly 56% of respondents who preferred purple pants. This empirical data aligns with insights and anecdotes for these
considered that relaxing. Pink too, was considered relaxing for many of flower colours being useful in in vivo therapeutic landscapes to promote
those (44%) who preferred it (Fig. 6). Conversely though, high pro- relaxation (Pavlova, 2015) including other studies that employed virtual
portions of respondents who preferred orange, red and, to some extent, images (Li et al., 2012). This study, therefore, indicates that blue and

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L. Zhang et al. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 79 (2023) 127795

white flowers can be used alongside green foliage to create an overall possibly due to the different rating methods used. Hůla and Flegr (2016)
relaxing plant composition in the landscape. Landscapes that induce compared coloured and sepia tone versions of the same flowers to study
feelings of calmness and relaxation potentially having a role to play in the effects of specific colours, but there was no sepia sequence with
alleviating physiological stress (Berto, 2014; Abraham et al., 2010; white which may have under-represented the popularity of white in
Chalmin-Pui et al., 2021b) with implications for longer-term health their study. Interestingly, although white was found to be the most
benefits (e.g. Teismann et al., 2019: Stogner et al., 2020). popular colour overall here, it was not universally so across the age
Flowers may affect our emotions additionally though, by lifting the ranges of participants. For the 55–64 years old age group red was
spirits and creating positive responses such as excitement and wonder, preferred.
so-called positive affect responses (Richardson et al., 2016; Cameron Another finding that challenged previous thinking was the popu-
et al., 2020). White fell into this category too, although orange was larity of orange as a floral colour. This has not been evident before in
considered the colour that gave the overall strongest uplifting effect. both general studies or those on flowers (Eysenck, 1941; Ellis and Ficek,
Orange being scored significantly greater than white for example, in 2001). In this study, a component of the population reported orange as
those who gardened less frequently (Fig. 3). In this group, yellow flowers being bright’, ‘happy’, ‘warm’ and ‘uplifting’. The reason for orange
were also seen as strongly uplifting. Those who gardened more being relatively popular is unclear, but may relate to the context being
frequently, however, had a wider range of colours they considered naturalistic, informal plantings, as in recent years, orange flower species
‘uplifting’, with only brown scoring very poorly. Here too, orange, but such as Eschscholzia californica and Calendula officinalis have become
also red, had significantly higher scores than blue (Fig. 3). The impact of more evident in such flower communities. Perhaps more people are
positive affect (uplift) induced by the natural world on mental health is associating this type of landscape with the colour orange, and appreci-
still understudied, but it is argued that short periods of positive emotion ating the aesthetic effect.
(especially if experienced on a frequent basis) influences longer-term Overall the results differed from studies on cut flowers (Behe et al.,
mental health (Bratman et al., 2015; Richardson et al., 2016). Argu- 1999; Yue and Behe, 2010) which suggest that red and pink are the most,
ably, viewing uplifting and stimulating floral colours and inducing and blue and yellow the least, preferred florist shop flowers. Thus, it is
positive affect is one of a number of experiences that can help provide conceivable that preference for flower colour is influenced strongly by
resilience against mental health problems. If so, then those ‘warmer’ context, and/or cultural associations (red and pink cut flowers, for
colours used in public landscapes and private gardens may not only example, being associated with romantic gestures and giving cut flowers
provide instantaneous positive impact (sometimes called the ‘wow’ as gifts; Yue & Behe, 2010).
factor) (Wilson, 2011; Jang et al., 2014; Pavlova, 2015; Paddle & Gil- Brown and yellow were the least popular colours in this study. These
liland, 2016; Hoyle et al., 2017) but may also enhance well-being over a may align with the habitat selection (Heerwagen and Orians, 1993) and
longer term. Therefore, floral displays that comprise orange, white, ecological valence (Palmer and Schloss, 2010) theories, which both
yellow and red should not be ignored by designers of therapeutic suggest people tend to dislike brown and some shades of yellow because
landscapes, and that these colours may contribute, albeit through a they are related to faeces, death, dead vegetation or drought. Irre-
different mechanism, to maintaining positive mood with implications spective of this, results here may partially be due to the hue and satu-
for retaining/restoring good mental health. Research in Sweden in- ration of yellow used (a moderate- dark hue compared to some other
dicates that patients who have suffered trauma, experience a recupera- Asteraceae frequently used in the designed landscape, e.g. Helianthus
tion journey, but they seek different forms within, and experiences from, ‘Lemon Queen’ with a lighter, brighter yellow). Overall though, context
the landscape at subsequent stages of that ‘journey’ (Stigsdotter and seems important for colour preference, orange was a relatively popular
Grahn, 2011; Pálsdóttir et al., 2014). In effect viewing, serene, calming flower colour here, but rarely expressed as a favourite colour in general
cool colours (blue, purple, green) may be important early on in a (Silver et al., 1988; Jonauskaite et al., 2019). This corresponds with
restorative process, whereas later on brighter, warmer colours (orange, Schloss et al. (2013) who state that individuals vary in their preferences
yellow, red) have a part to play in restoring a positive mood. Landscape for different types of coloured objects.
architects should reflect on this when designing therapeutic landscapes,
but also take note there are also subjective influences that may also 4.3. Preference in relation to mood
influence these responses (see points below about colour preference and
restorative experiences). An additional question was to what extent did preference for a given
flower colour potentially influence any health-promoting response. “A
4.2. Preference little bit of what you fancy does you good” (Lloyd Marie – singer
1870–1922) may be the philosophy here, as the data suggested signifi-
The research aimed to better understand how flower colour affected cant correlations between flower colour preference and both what in-
preference when flowers were presented as a semi-natural meadow-like dividuals viewed as most relaxing, or most uplifting. What’s more, a
community, but without any additional interfering factors or visual in- large proportion of people indicated that their preferred flower colour
trusions. Overall, the data showed that there were strong differences in was able to relax them, but also provide an uplifting response. This
the colours preferred by the participants. White was the most popular seems counter-intuitive, but may relate to the way people are inter-
(26%) with flower colours of blue (18%) and orange (16%) ranked next. preting the term ‘uplifting’; perhaps seeing it as ‘improving mood’ in a
Our results partially agree with previous studies that cite white and blue general sense rather than specifically arousing, exciting or stimulating.
as popular colours both within wider contexts (Palmer & Schloss, 2010; It is feasible though that colours can be seen as both relaxing and
Fortmann-Roe, 2013; Pavlova, 2015) and research involving flowers uplifting. White flowers fell into this category. Further research is
(Pavlova, 2015, including those involving similar online methods, Hůla required to clarify these points. Overall though, the datasets support our
and Flegr, 2016, 2020). Nonetheless, it was surprising that white was hypothesis that higher preferences for flower colours are found to be
chosen by more participants than other colours, particularly blue; the associated with positive psychological effects (both uplift and relaxa-
latter often being recorded as the most popular colour even within floral tion). Herzog et al. (2003) assumed that preference, although concep-
studies (Palmer and Schloss, 2010; Fortmann-Roe, 2013; Hůla and Flegr, tually distinct from restoration, might play a role in attracting people to,
2016). A possible simple explanation for this may relate to white being and retaining them for longer within, restorative environments. This
omitted in many previous flower/garden studies. To date, only Hůla and study of flower colour provides some support for this, as the data sug-
Flegr (2016) seem to have experimentally compared people’s prefer- gests participants are more relaxed when viewing flower colours they
ences for blue and white flowers in natural environments. Results pre- prefer. This may relate to environmental preferences being linked to
sented here conflict with their data (where blue was most popular), compatibility with (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989), or possessing functional

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L. Zhang et al. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 79 (2023) 127795

significance for (van den Berg et al., 2003), the perceiver. Thus it would CRediT authorship contribution statement
seem that the restorative effects of flowers are due more to environ-
mental preferences (van den Berg et al., 2007) rather than habitat se- Liwen Zhang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Valida-
lection (Heerwagen and Orians, 1993) or ecological valence (Palmer and tion, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing –
Schloss, 2010) theories. original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision,
White was the most popular colour in this study and ranked second in Project administration, Funding acquisition. Nicola Dempsey: Meth-
both terms of relaxation and uplift. Thus if a landscape architect was odology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Ross Cameron:
restricted to the use of a single flower colour within a therapeutic Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal analysis, Writing –
environment, white would be the colour to recommend. This contradicts original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Funding
Xie et al. (2021) who found white flowers reduced cheerfulness and acquisition.
relaxation compared to red or yellow flowers. The reason for this is not
clear, but may relate to different visual stimulations (cut roses arranged
in glass vases) or cultural context (participants based in China). There- Declaration of Competing Interest
fore, it is possible that the psychological effect of flower colour is also
influenced by context and geographical region (Neale et al., 2021). The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
4.4. Limitations of the study

Data Availability
The study was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown,
so the research was carried out entirely on-line. There was no oppor-
A summary of the results will be placed within University of Sheffield
tunity to verify results from in vivo field studies or in person lab studies,
PhD data repository.
and these should be carried out in future to verify the results reported
here. The data is skewed towards female participants and further work
should investigate further how gender or ethnic background affect some Acknowledgements
of the results reported. Also, results here report the responses to hue, but
saturation and brightness of a given hue may also impact emotional and The authors are grateful to Mr Farris and Ms Cheng for commenting
health-related parameters (e.g. see points about yellow above); we did on this manuscript. For the purpose of open access, the authors have
not control for these when randomly selecting the plant genotypes. applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author
Moreover, due to variations between devices employed by participants Accepted Manuscript version arising.
we could not be sure that they necessarily viewed the same brightness or
saturation for each colour presented. Future research should account for Appendix A. Supporting information
these aspects of colour too.
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found in the
5. Conclusions online version at doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2022.127795.

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