Patients at two private hospitals near Abergavenny have been rewarded for their gardening efforts in this year’s ‘Green Fingers’ competition.

Llanarth Court hospital was commended for its flower gardens while Aderyn at Penperlleni was runner up in the ‘Transformation of the Year’ award in the annual competition run by Partnerships in Care (PiC).

The initiative encourages patients to work together or independently to produce competition entries.

The aspiring gardeners decide together which category to enter, and meet regularly to agree what they aim to achieve and the steps and responsibilities they need to take to get there.

The categories consider all aspects of horticulture, including ‘best transformation’, ‘best home grown meal’ and ‘best outdoor sculpture’ as well as ‘community garden of the year’.

Many patients who don’t engage in other activities enjoy getting involved and seeing the fruits of their labours.

Adele Walters, Occupational Therapist at Llanarth Court said, “Patients on several wards took part. They have worked hard to create gardens that offer flower displays with different shaped leaves, colours and textures in order for people to gain a complete sensory experience from this area.

“Patients got a lot of pleasure from undertaking the various tasks and a great sense of satisfaction from the finished results. They have also enjoyed recording their work in photograph albums.”

Claire Higgins, Healthcare Worker, who took the lead on the initiative at Aderyn, said, “Our transformation project has created a wonderful garden and a place of peace which can be used for patients to have quiet time or for visits from family and friends. It was a great team effort which has helped patients gain new relationships with other patients they may not have socialised with in other circumstances and it has encouraged other patients who don’t usually venture outside to enjoy the garden area and learn new skills.”

According to hospital staff it took a while for patients to feel ‘ownership’ but once the garden started to grow their pride also grew.

“A number of patients who did not make use of the garden for walks before took a great interest in the project and are now outdoors every day, either watering, digging or just inspecting the garden to see if anything new has grown!” said one staff member.

The winning teams will all receive £100 and the runner up teams £50 and a certificate.