Gardening group brightens care centre for Mother’s Day

Ron Smith Care Centre residents, staff and volunteers are full of smiles after having planted violas and pansies for Mother’s Day. 

Rand Aid Association’s Ron Smith Care Centre’s gardening group meets every other week in one of the wings at the care centre. At their last gathering, the group enjoyed planting violas and pansies for Mother’s Day.

The gardening group is run by volunteers Leung and Elaine Ho. Leung, a horticulturalist, has a Baccalaureus Technologiae in Horticulture from UNISA and a special interest in using gardening activities for therapeutic purposes.

 

He adheres to the belief that plants, gardening activities and the innate closeness we all feel towards nature can be used as a vehicle to bring certain therapeutic benefits to participants.

Over time, simple gardening tasks practiced in a group can provide sensory and memory stimulation, increase movement, improve orientation to reality, increase a sense of community and decrease feelings of loneliness and isolation. 

Ron Smith Care Centre residents spent an enjoyable morning planting colourful flowers into lovely ceramic shopping bag pots, which were designed and made by Leung.   

The Ron Smith Care Centre has plants for sale and the proceeds are used for operating the gardening programme.

For more information about Ron Smith Care Centre, visit www.randaid.co.za.