A Transplant Garden of Life at Bluewater Health will help raise awareness behind the importance of organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
An earth-turning ceremony was held by the Sarnia Organ Donor Awareness (SODA) group in the hospital's Shell Healing Garden Thursday morning.
"It's bringing life to people just as the gardens bring life," says SODA Representative Connie Ellis. "It's in an area that is relaxing and will invite people in and bring some beauty into the space of the hospital."
Two separate garden beds, representing donor and recipient, will be connected through a red plant representative of blood.
"The recipient and donor are always connected, emotionally, if not physically, and so that symbolic running through is reminding us of that connection," she says.
The donor bed will include plants honouring the unselfish act of donors and donor families, such as Jacob's Ladder "Stairway to Heaven," peony "Scarlet Heaven," and hosta "Praying Hands."
An angel made of recycled materials will be added to represent 'recycling ourselves' through organ donation.
On the other side, the recipient bed will contain flowers representing various organs of the body such as ligularia for the kidney, and bleeding heart valentine for the heart.
"We wanted to go with some plants that either looked like an organ or had the name of an organ," says Eveliene Vandenouweland, a designer with DeGroot's Nurseries who is planning the garden.
Funds were previously made possible through a White Rose Garden Centres Canada project before it closed.
The garden is expected to be fully planted before May, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in October.
