Growth Point Winter 2015
First Person: Caroline Cook

My journey

After eight years of doing community development work in South East Asia, I returned to the UK completely burned out. With two children and both myself and my husband out of work I had no sense of hope for the future. It was in fact tending my garden and growing plants (my first success was growing delphiniums from seed!) and support from my family and friends at church that brought me new strength and healing.

Getting experience

I began a correspondence course in Designing with Plants and Horticulture with KLC School of Design and also volunteered at a local nursery where they soon offered me part time paid work. I potted on hundreds of hostas and heucheras and soon began to recognise all sorts of plants even just by their foliage. To further my gardening skills I joined the Women’s Farm and Garden Association who found me work on a large estate in Derbyshire, helping the owner and the gardener. My memories are of flying across fields on the back of a tractor with pheasants fleeing in all directions as we headed to unload the trailer after a day’s hard work pruning trees and shrubs. Another time I was quietly enjoying pruning the roses by the main hall when I was startled by a loud roar overhead – the son from Hampshire arriving by helicopter landing on the lawn next to me!

Setting up my own business and more training

After several years running my own gardening business and doing some design work I really knew that I wanted to use horticulture to bring healing and hope to other people as it had so helped me. My background was as a Speech and Language Therapist (with a psychology degree) specialising with the elderly and stroke patients so I was keen to look for ways to use gardening to help these people. I attended Thrive’s one day course on Social and Therapeutic Horticulture with the Elderly and also did a correspondence course on Horticultural Therapy by Edinburgh Garden School. I found out about a local charity First Taste (education for the Fourth Age) who provide Arts Education for Older People in Care Settings and was taken on as one of their Gardening Tutors visiting a few days centres to do indoor gardening activities. This does involve a lot of carrying of compost and pots and equipment in and out of day centres but the response of the older people is so rewarding. We have planted up pots with winter bedding plants and bulbs, grown herbs from seed and made a sensory garden in a tub with a wind chime made from shells. I had an opportunity to help set up a gardening group with the Stroke Association at a Community Hospital but unfortunately this was not able to continue because of lack of funding.

Pilot projects in care homes

After a chance meeting with one of the County Adult Care Team (on a workshop where we had to role play an activity together pretending to have dementia!) I got an invitation to set up a pilot horticultural therapy project at two residential care homes in Derbyshire. Derbyshire County Council had received a grant from the Kings Fund Trust to implement the Enhancing the Healthy Environment Project (supporting the National Dementia Strategy). After a successful eight weeks we were given the go ahead to continue with the horticultural therapy project and I am now continuing on a regular basis. We have about 5-7 older people who attend each group with a member of the care staff to help and a volunteer. It has been so rewarding seeing the residents actively involved in gardening. Most of the gardening is table top gardening and is done inside (thankfully we have a laminate floor!) The care homes have been transformed with bright yellow sunflowers nodding in the breeze along the previously bare fences, raised planters full of bright pink geraniums and purple petunias, planters overflowing with orange flowered nasturtiums, chives with purple flower heads and the pinks and purples of the sweet smelling sweat peas. Lilly who is 95 who has visual and hearing impairments says: "It is the best day of my life when I am gardening."

Judith says "We really look forward to the gardening group. I enjoy the feel of the soil, putting the plants in, smelling them and seeing the results. It gets us all talking and we get to know other people. I am growing runner beans outside my room in my raised planter. It’s really rewarding seeing the flowers and seeing them grow and looking after them." The care staff and managers have been very supportive: "The residents are talking about the gardening group and the plants they are growing all the time. They often ask when the next gardening group is or what they are going to grow next. The home looks lovely now with all the plants. Everyone says how lovely it looks.’ The residents enjoy caring for the plants between our sessions too – looking after geranium cuttings and then seeing the roots develop, watering the seeds and planters. David who is 50 and has recently had a stroke and uses a wheelchair said’ Don’t you worry – I will look after the plants and water them for you – it will give me something to do’ After the morning horticultural therapy session I then spend a few hours in the afternoon doing gardening at the care homes. This gives me time to finish off activities, weed and tidy the planters/raised beds as well as have 1:1 time with residents ( both those who attend the group and those who do not) to discuss the areas outside their room – plants they would like etc. We entered the Derbyshire County Council Gardening Competition and were delighted to be presented with three first prize certificates - for Best Small Garden, Best Vegetable garden and Best Pots and Hanging Baskets. The residents were delighted and we were featured in the local press too! One of the resident’s latest ideas is to develop a memorial garden. We have planted white tulips in pots to remember one of our group’s member’s husbands who lived in the home too and died a few months ago after his 100th birthday. Flower arranging is also very popular and one elderly man who comes for day care gave the arrangement to his daughter who was ill. She was so touched and since then the family regularly buy materials for him so he can make flower arrangements for other people! Some of our group are quite good business women too selling our wares (home- made lavender gifts and pressed flower cards) at the care homes summer fetes to raise money for outings! We had lots of fun preparing for Christmas making Christmas gifts, table decorations and wreaths, we are now busy making food for the birds overwinter then soon it will be Valentine’s day with flower arrangements to make, and plans for the year ahead and seed to sow …. Instead of finding the winter difficult, dark and grey with little gardening work or business I am now enjoying learning new skills, going on craft and floristry workshops and then bringing nature craft activities into the care homes.

The Future

For this coming year I would love to be able to go into some new care homes to set up horticultural therapy and to provide training to care workers and activity coordinators in Derbyshire…I have received a small grant to go towards this but am looking for ways to find more funding. (Any ideas gratefully received!) I am also really interested in developing community links by encouraging intergenerational gardening between local schools and community care homes. How I could have thought 10 years ago that my life had no future! My children are growing up fast and we have so many happy memories. My husband has a new career as a teacher and we have since adopted a daughter too ….and gardening has helped me through many difficult times as well as given me such a sense of purpose and fulfilment helping others.