Effects of evergreen trees on landscape preference and perceived restorativeness across seasons
Ronghua Wang, Jingwei Zhao
Abstract
Season is an important factor influencing preference and psychological restoration, especially in temperate regions. Evergreen plants can mediate landscape changes across seasons and increase greenness when deciduous trees are leafless. However, what are the impacts of evergreen plants on preference and restoration? The answers are still unknown and important to research. To address this gap this study conducted an experiment, in which, based on four photographs taken on a site in four seasons, 24 images were created using the photomontage technique by adding evergreen trees to the original pictures. The results indicated that: (1) evergreen plants significantly improved the landscape preference only in spring; (2) significant effects of evergreen plants on psychological restoration in spring, autumn and winter were noted and (3) types and amounts of evergreen trees had non-significant impacts on year-round preference and restoration. Additionally, seasonal transformation had an essential impact on both preference and restoration.