Saplings with blessings bright up lives

Two Bodhi trees planted (red circle) in 1976 now tower majestically over the main entrance of HKBH.

A blessing from India

Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital

Bodhi tree, known as ‘tree of awakening’, is India’s national tree. Three Bodhi trees were planted in the Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital (HKBH) in the 1970s. It is said that Wong Wan-tin, a lay Buddhist and then the Vice‑President of the Hong Kong Buddhist Association, was given saplings as a blessing for the soon-to-be completed HKBH by his Indian friend during a travel to India in 1966. Mr Wong and his wife nurtured the saplings which were later replanted at the main entrance and outside the hospital’s outpatient clinic.

The flame tree planted in 2010 now flourishes.

Under the tree, Maggie Ng (left) and Prof Philip Li seize the day and share nostalgia for the past.

A tree that symbolises the greatest gift of all

Prince of Wales Hospital

“I visit the tree often when I return to Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) for follow-up consultation,” says Maggie Ng, a renal patient and a member of the PWH Hospital Governing Committee and the New Territories Advisory Committee. “To me, the place symbolises hope and a new start in life. I thank and pay respect to organ donors who make the greatest decision in life – to prolong the lives of others.”

Maggie suffered from end-stage renal failure after graduating from university at the age of 23 and was saved by a kidney donated by her younger sister. Sadly, she was again diagnosed with renal failure in 2016 but was luckily saved again by a kidney donated by another younger sister. “I am very lucky,” she admits. “Two successful kidney transplants saved my life and allowed me to continue with my family life and career.”

The six-metre-high flame tree was planted in 2010 in the hospital’s Tree of Life Garden located in the middle of old buildings connecting the hospital to the student dormitory. Professor Philip Li, Chief of Nephrology at PWH who set up the garden, explains, “The flame tree symbolises rebirth, and the sculpture ‘Blooming’ beside signifies continuing life of organ recipients after the generous acts of organ donors. We hope this flame tree and the sculpture remind everyone of the unconditional love of organ donors, and the noble sentiment of lighting a way forward for other people.”

A renal patient Maggie Ng lays flowers at the sculpture beside the flame tree to express her gratitude to organ donors.

‘The flame tree garden’ at KH has become a potent feature of the hospital’s landscape.

An exuberant summer blaze for patients

Kowloon Hospital

An exuberant blaze of colour greets patients and visitors at Kowloon Hospital (KH) where nearly 100 flame trees burst into bloom in the middle of the year. With feather-like leaves and flamboyant red flowers, the tallest trees can fetch up to 12 metres high with a canopy 20 metres wide. The trees have become a potent feature of the hospital’s landscape.

A Green Sunshine programme, which is organised once a month by the Patient Resource Centre, is integrated with the elements of natural environment, says Billie Chui, Assistant Social Work Officer at KH. Social workers and volunteers escort inpatients to the outdoor green areas for exercise and walk. Volunteers who are keen on gardening share with patients about the characteristics of the trees and flowers. Also, patients and their family never miss the opportunity to pose for instant pictures at the time of year when the flame trees burst into bloom and transform the hospital ground into a landscape of vivid red. Billie says that lush green canopy and blooming of flowers have healing power, in which the beauty can cheer patients up and relieve their stress by motivating and empowering them with the landscape of vivid red.

The flame trees at KH burst into bloom at around the time of Mother’s Day every year, providing a perfect natural bouquet to mark the special day.

Cheng Siu-kuen puts the fallen flowers in a glass dish filled with water and grace the office with scent.

A fragrance that is heavenly

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Frangipani is a fragrant flowering tree famous for its white and yellow flowers and fragrant smell. Its heavenly scent greets employees and patients at the stairs next to the parking lot of Block S at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). Operation Assistant Cheng Siu-kuen is a keen plant lover and always brings fallen frangipani flowers into the hospital on her way to work and puts them in a small glass dish filled with water to grace the office with colour and scent. “If the flowers fall on soil, I won’t pick them up because the leaves would return to the roots,” she says. “But when the flowers fall on footpaths, they will either be trampled or swept away. So why not let people enjoy the beauty of the flowers?”

The frangipani tree at QEH was hit by Typhoon Mangkhut last year but survived and bloomed again this summer.