UCT flowers spread Christmas cheer

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Danie Visser (right) was on hand last week to make the annual delivery of blue and pink hydrangeas – commonly known as Christmas roses – to Groote Schuur Hospital.

Belinda Jacobs (centre), acting chief operating officer, and Maureen Ross (left), director of nursing, received the flowers on behalf of the hospital.

The flowers will be distributed among the wards to bring some Christmas cheer to those patients who will spend the holidays in a hospital bed.

The annual hydrangea delivery – most likely initiated by nurses who make a point of decorating the wards over the festive season – is said to date back to 1938, the year the hospital opened.

These days the flowers are collected and delivered by the UCT gardening service, The Green Perspective.

Photo by Je'nine May.