Johnsons of Whixley donates to new garden for St Cathernie's home

Award-winning garden designer Luke Arend recently designed a garden for St Catherine’s in Shipton by Beningbrough - with plants donated by Johnsons of Whixley.

St Catherine's is a dementia specialist care home run by Wellburn Care Homes which has recently gone through a complete transformation after months of research, development, planning and design.

The transformation sees innovative dementia-friendly interiors, gardens and exteriors added all of which were installed with the needs of patients with dementia in mind.

Garden designer Luke Arend, worked to a brief to tempt residents outside, and enjoy the garden with friends and family members. It included functional requirements such as wheelchair access, safe paths with no anxiety-inducing dead-ends and clear edges, safe sensory plants, meaning no poisonous, spiky, or thorny plants, plants which mark seasonal change, a safe water feature, dappled shade, clear views from the building and raised beds for interaction with the planting.

Johnsons of Whixley donated the plants to the care home in York (Image: Johnsons of Whixley)

Luke created concept plans and mood boards and spoke to residents and family members about the design and considered garden features, materials, furniture, lighting and safe plants to invoke a positive, beautiful environment and memories.

Luke said: “There is now a strong body of evidence of the enormous physical and mental benefits of just being in a garden and nature for patients with dementia including evoking memories, increasing confidence and socialisation, and importantly decreasing agitation.

"It’s so rewarding to see residents and family members enjoying the garden and savouring being outdoors. A huge thank you to Johnsons of Whixley for supporting this project and making it a reality."

The complete garden includes wet-poor rubber flexible non-slip paths, a beautiful Victorian-style central Gazebo, raised beds, a water feature, furniture, sculptures and memory-invoking plants.

The plant donation from Johnsons of Whixley was worth over £500 and included Hydrangeas, Skimmias, Echinaceas, Geraniums, Geums, Helleborus, Hostas, Lavenders, Lupins, Nepeta, Paeonia, Roses, Pulmonaria, Salvias, Vincas, Clematis, Buddleia and fatsia.

The aim was to include plants that residents are familiar with to help invoke positive memories, including lavenders, tulips, geraniums and roses.

Some of the donated plants from Johnsons of Whixley (Image: Johnsons of Whixley)

Johnsons marketing manager, Eleanor Richardson, said: “It's great to give something back to our local community, there are currently around 900,000 people with dementia in the UK so it’s great to support our local Dementia care home.

"We hope our plants bring joy to residents, staff and visitors of the care home for many years to come.”

Johnsons of Whixley is located between Harrogate and York and is just 2.5 miles from the A1 at Junction 47. The firm supplies between five and six million plants annually to landscaping projects throughout the UK.