Residents demonstrate their green fingers
Our second annual Retirement Housing Gardening Competition has taken place and the winners have been announced! We once again invited residents from across our retirement housing communities to nominate themselves or their neighbours to enter their gardens, and the entries flooded in.
This year we divided the competition into three categories:
· Best potted garden
· Best sustainable garden
· Best utilised space
The standard of gardens was once again exceptionally high. From highly productive vegetable plots to colourful riots of exquisite blooms, our green fingered residents have created them all. Some of the gardens have been a real team effort, with neighbours and friends helping out in a great community way. Others have been a solitary labour of love, supporting mental health and helping residents to stay active. The determination of many to create their own oasis in the face of illness, declining mobility, and in some cases bereavement, is truly inspirational. The competition was really stiff, and the judges found it very hard to pick winners.
But pick they must, and here are the winning entries!
Winner, best sustainable garden, Alginatas and Egle Grigaliūnai
Winner, best potted garden, William and Maureen Mansfield
Winner, best utilised space, Elizabeth Fisher
Highly commended:
Ailsa Lunny
Peter and Margaret Munns
Trevor and Susan Waterhouse
Tracey Lowndes, Assistant Director of Older People Services, said: “So many of our residents put their heart and soul into their gardens and have really created some magical oases of calm and tranquillity. Some of our residents are lifelong gardeners while other only discovered their green fingers in retirement - it's never too late to get started! We know that gardening is so important to both mental and physical health, as well as bringing joy to the neighbours who live nearby. Our competition aims to give just a little back to the residents, and we hope to encourage more to join the competition in years to come. It has been such a pleasure to judge this year, with our own gardener, Luke, and to see how important these gardens are to our residents and the whole community.”