Gardening is a healthy, nutritious, and environmentally friendly way to grow your own food. It is also a great way to spend time with nature, and it can be done even with minimal space. Gardening is a fun hobby and passion that many celebrities have engaged in as well. Here is a list of ten celebrities who have a green thumb.
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah is well-known as a talk show host for her program, The Oprah Winfrey Show, but she is also a television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. Raised by her grandmother on a small farm, Oprah’s passion for gardening began in Kosciusko, Mississippi. All the food she consumed came from the garden. After learning that 90% of Hawaii’s food is shipped overseas, Oprah wanted to create an opportunity for people living in Hawaii to have access to fresh and organic food in a sustainable way.
According to O, The Oprah Magazine, Oprah transformed 16 acres of her property in Maui into an organic farm. Partnering with her friend Bob Greene and the management company Bio-Logical Capital, they created a farm that grows over a hundred different species of vegetables, fruits, and herbs and produces more than 145 pounds of food every week to give back to the people in Maui.
Prince Charles
Many people in the world know Prince Charles as the Princes of Wales and heir to the British throne. Prince Charles is also a strong supporter of an organic lifestyle. According to the Royal Gardens at Highgrove website, he bought Highgrove House and transformed it to have 15 acres of organic gardens. Prince Charles began the project by seeking the advice of Lady Salisbury and the help of Miriam Rothschild; both are experienced organic gardeners.
Some key features of the garden include the Walled Kitchen Garden, the Orchard Room, Thyme walk, and a wildflower meadow. Specifically, the Walled Kitchen Garden produces fruits and vegetables that allow Highgrove to be self-sufficient. Some of the fruits and vegetables the garden produces include leeks, Charlotte potatoes, cabbage, spring, carrots, brussel sprouts, apples, and strawberries. Wisteria, honeysuckle, jasmine, Holboellia, lilies and thyme are the flowers that were chosen to be grown around the paths of the estate.
Not only does Prince Charles grow an organic garden, but he also implements many sustainability initiatives. For example, the Royal Garden at Highgrove stated most of the electricity is sourced from solar panels, wood pellet fired boilers which heats the house through biomass, and rainwater is used to water the gardens. The Prince is Patron of the NCCPG, which conserves the diversity of our plant heritage through its national collections.
Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts is an actress, infamous for her role in the movies Notting Hill, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and Pretty Woman. As the mother, Roberts instills the importance of healthy nutrition and sustainable habits to her three children. At her farm in Malibu, California, Roberts embraces a sustainable lifestyle through her organic garden.
Her friend Sophie Uliano, the author of the book Gorgeously Green, introduced Roberts to composting. In an interview with Oprah, Roberts said she uses leftovers from her kitchen to compost. Composting is a way to fertilize and bring nutrients to the soil to grow plants in the garden.
Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart has authored numerous cooking books and created her own magazine and television program. According to Stewart’s website, her love for gardening began as a four year-old when her father gave her a screwdriver and showed her how to dig out weeds. Stewart regularly posts gardening tips, ideas, and innovative new ways to garden on her website. For example, she has incorporated technology such as drones to monitor her gardens and uses a creative method to fence her garden away from animals.
Stewart has many different gardens on her different properties. Her massive vegetable garden in Bedford, Connecticut includes several varieties of tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, basil, parsley, potato, okra, garlic, artichoke, and soybeans for the fall. In the spring, her garden produces chard, fennel, radish, turnip, carrot, cauliflower, snap pea, broccoli, and numerous other vegetables which she details in an article.
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal is a film producer and actor in movies such as Okjja and Nightcrawler. His love of gardening began when he saw the way gardening connected family and community together and the benefits of growing your own food. In fact, Gyllenhaal is an ambassador for The Edible Schoolyard Project, a charity program centered around educating children to grow and cook their own food and lead a healthy living. Gyllenhaal is quoted saying that it is important for children to be mindful of what they eat and learn how to grow their own food, preventing childhood obesity and diabetes.
Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon is known for her role in the movie Legally Blond and the show Walk The Line. She has a ranch in California and grows cucumbers, tomatoes, and lemons. According to Arcitectural’s Digest, Witherspoon gardens with her children and posts frequently on social media, promoting a healthier, green lifestyle.
Elizabeth Olsen
Elizabeth Olsen is an American actress and the sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. In an interview, Elizabeth Olsen said growing her own produce and creating a closed ecosystem was a lifelong dream. With the help of Heather Trilling, she planted citrus trees, fruit trees, and built a raised bed. Olsen also planted peas, kale, plum trees, tomatoes, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, lemons, and peach trees. To supplement the garden, Olsen composts foods such as eggshells and leaves oil and vinegar traps. The garden reminds Olsen of the smaller joys to look forward to in life.
Jessica Alba
An actress, Jessica Alba is well-known for her role in Sin City. As an avid environmentalist, Alba owns a company selling eco-friendly home and baby products. Additionally, her home is filled with succulents and indoor plants through the innovative vertical aeroponic system.
According to Architectural Digest, the company LA Urban Farms designed the vertical garden by mixing water, minerals, and nutrients at the base. These nutrients are then drawn up through the center of the column and then showered on the roots below in a continuous cycle. The system has a smaller footprint is more sustainable than vegetable garden; it consumes 90 percent less water and allows plants to grow more quickly. Not only is it an easy way to garden, but it also does not require any soil.
