Stratford Hospital Garden

Members of the gardening team take a well earned breakStratford Hospital Garden

Thanks to a generous grant of £160 from Stratford-upon-Avon Town Trust the club can continue to maintain the garden outside the Nicol Unit of Stratford Hospital. We first renovated the garden in March 2005 and since then a team of Soroptimist volunteers meet monthly in the growing seasons to plant, weed, deadhead, spray, and fertilise the borders and clip and mow the lawn.

In autumn pots of polyanthus are underplanted with miniature narcissi and borders planted with tulips and daffodils. Winter pansies and winter-flowering jasmine provide colour in the darkest months, and large planters at the entrance of the Unit are planted with wallflowers and tulips to provide colour and perfume well into May.

For summer the smaller pots are filled with petunias, busy lizzies and trailing verbena, complemented by geraniums and cosmos in the borders. The fence is clothed in clematis and climbing roses – Compassion, High Hopes and Iceberg. Foxgloves flower in May/June followed by white lychnis, hollyhocks , lavender and myrtle. Two beds have patio roses (including the Soroptimist rose) underplanted with busy lizzies and summer pansies. The large planters are filled with bright cerise geraniums.

Patients and hospital staff express appreciation of this quiet, peaceful and flower-filled corner that provides year-round pleasure.