Tag Archives: Health

I find that at times when I’m feeling a bit low, a visit to a florist or garden centre often brightens up my mood and so last weekend after returning from seeing my wife, I called in at Cosmea Gardens to look at all the beautiful plants and flowers they had for sale.

I love the bright colours and the beautiful fragrance of such shops but this time my eye was caught by a plant that seems popular in garden centres all across the island and it’s the Kalanchoe.

I remember them from my youth and their common name of ‘Flaming Katie’ because the only colour you used to be able to get back then was a scarlet red.

On this occasion I was faced with a carpet of nearly every colour you could imagine. White, yellow, pink, purple and the list goes on. I picked out three to go in a basket arrangement and brought them home.

Looking at them brightening up my lounge I was persuaded to find out more about them and so out came the Flower and Plant Encyclopedia.

Before too long I’d found out that they can grow up to 6m high (a little too big for my lounge) and that in some countries they are used as a treatment for hypertension.

I wasn’t sure whether it was just looking at them in their colourful glory made stress disappear or whether I’d have to eat some part of the plant but I though isn’t it amazing that a plant that does so much good, just because it’s bright, cheery and easy to look after, can also restore us with the helpful chemicals it contains.

My father’s just had a very brief stay in hospital. It was very brief because they cancelled his operation whilst he was lying on the operating table waiting for the surgeon to start. We were worried that it might have been too dangerous for the surgeon to operate but it turned out to be the old British complaint of ‘It’s five o’clock, time to go home!’ It’s a good job it wasn’t an urgent operation or it might not have been so funny.

Anyway, while waiting for all this drama to settle I paced up and down the wards smiling at the patients in their beds, hoping to make them feel a little brighter. Many smiled back although there were some where the realisation of what was wrong with them was etched on their faces and I thought what a shame it was that they were all by themselves, scared of what would happen next and in an unfriendly hospital ward, all a sanitized white. Then it hit me that there were no flowers or get well cards by their beds, just the bedpans and tissues and drugs and it really depressed me. At that point a nurse passed me and asked if I was alright. Worried that they might bundle me into one of the empty beds, I hurriedly acknowledged that I was fine but then plucked up the courage to ask about the lack of flowers and cards.

The nurse wistfully told me that it was for two reasons. One, that because of the prevalence of ‘hospital superbugs’, all unnecessary clutter had to go, especially when it was brought in from the unhealthy world outside the hospital and secondly, that it was extra work for the already overworked nurses to change the water and weed out dead blooms.

When I got home I googled the issue and found strong opinions against the practice of banning flowers. Researchers had found that there is very little risk of infection from flowers or the water they’re in and they pointed to evidence that shows people recovering after surgery in hospital rooms containing flowers or pot plants needed less painkillers, felt less pain and anxiety, and were less likely to have high blood pressure or a high heart rate.

So is there any chance of a reprieve for the humble bouquet – not seemingly in this country. I’m not sure what the rule is elsewhere but I know I’d rather be recovering in a hospital where a friend could bring me flowers to cheer up a drab, depressing environment. So, if you have a friend or relative recovering in hospital, do something to help them recover more quickly and take, not send, them a bouquet of flowers. Cosmea Gardens has an extensive selection of cut flowers and plants so don’t hesitate to visit them in Larnaca or order online at www.CyprusOnlineFloweshop.com .