Pink and purple joy for hospital patients

UCT delivered its annual consignment of Christmas roses to the wards in Groote Schuur Hospital on 22 December.

The pink and purple hydrangeas are collected from the UCT gardens (pictured) and delivered by the campus gardening service, Green Perspective. The flowers are for the benefit of patients who have to spend the holidays in hospital beds.

The annual hydrangea delivery dates back to 1938, the year the hospital opened, and is believed to have been initiated by nurses, who wanted to spread the festive cheer in the wards by decorating them with flowers.

Photo by Michael Hammond.