Huang observes one important difference between horticultural therapy and other kinds of alternative therapies such as art, music, and dance: in horticultural therapy, the media employed-plants-are themselves living creatures. By nurturing a living thing, the therapy recipient becomes aware of all of life's continual changes, from the sprouting of new buds and the growing of new leaves to flowers blooming then eventually fading.
黃盛璘表示，園藝治療和藝術、音樂、舞蹈治療等另類療法相較，最大特色在於運用的媒介──植物──本身就是一種生命，在照顧植物的過程中，會持續感覺到生命的變化：發新芽、長新葉、花開、花落，生生不息。