In 2011, the Royal Cornwall Hospital identified three initial garden spaces to work with. It aimed to complete the first two gardens with no budget, relying on donations of time and plants.
The third garden was much bigger and the needs of the patients in that area are very specific, so additional funding was required.
One garden was stocked with plants with the help of the staff at the audiology department and generous donations from Hayle Nursery. Companies including Jewson and B&Q donated broken bags of gravel for use on the pathways.
Staff requested an oriental theme for the second garden, located by the Oral Surgery department. Special thanks go to The Lost Gardens of Heligan The Eden Project and Goonhavern Nursery for their amazing help in talking to their teams to see what they can donate to us for this garden. a beautiful selection of trees and shrubs which they generously donated.
Goonhavern donated a flowering cherry and a large lilac tree which will bring much needed colour to the patients of the wards when they are in bloom this year. They also donated bay bushes (to add scent) and ornamental grass which will look great in the oriental themed garden.
The health and safety team at the hospital trust as well as the infection control team are supporting the risk assessments to ensure that items can be moved through the hospital safely, and that the volunteer gardeners are safe.