The International Year of Plant Health

is coming up next year. Gardens? Yes. Wild plants? Yes. The environment? Yes. The list could go on.
I will add something else to that list. Mental health? Yes. I have no doubt at all that gardening is good for mental health. 
The Senior Cat gets depressed. He tries not to show it but he does. He is simply not able to do the things he wants to do. Lately though he has been able to do small things out in his beloved garden. They are only small things but he is doing something. He has the satisfaction of seeing things grow. (Oh yes, the weeds grow too but....)
And yesterday I was talking to someone about a possible project for next year - a plant project. This time they won't be actual plants. They might take a little while to make too but I think there might be mental health benefits if we do it.
I am not very keen about what is usually called "yarn bombing". I like knitting and crochet to have a purpose apart from covering trees and benches and bicycles and even bridges. S..., someone I know who lives in Canada, was absolutely right when she said that the knitting they used to cover the bridge had to eventually be "repurposed" into blankets and more for those in need.
But there may be a time and a place for some yarn bombing. It may be beneficial to mental health if done properly. So I have put a suggestion to a group of people that we do yarn bomb a small area - and that we get children to help make flowers or vegetables or some other plant.  In doing so we can tell them that, if they make a plant like that, they will be teaching adults about the importance of caring for the environment. It may help to allay some of their fears about climate change if they can do something positive.
Will it work? I don't know. I have simply put the idea up as one for discussion at a meeting next week.
If you have thoughts on the subject, ideas about how we might go about it...I'd like to know.