National children’s charity Greenfingers Charity has launched its 2026 ‘Healing Hand, Helping Hearts’ Appeal, calling on the public to help transform outdoor spaces in children’s hospices across the UK and give life-limited children and their families somewhere to play, connect, find peace and make precious memories together.

For families spending time in a children’s hospice, moments of normality can be incredibly precious. A garden can provide a place to step outside, feel the sun, hear birdsong, play with siblings, spend time together away from the bedside or simply sit quietly.

Yet despite the important role that nature and access to outdoor space can play in wellbeing, many children’s hospices do not have the funding to create or maintain gardens specifically designed around the needs of their young patients and families.

Greenfingers Charity exists to change this

Since its inception, the charity has created more than 70 bespoke gardens in children’s hospices across the UK, working closely with hospice teams to create spaces that are accessible, therapeutic and, above all, designed with children and families in mind. Demand continues to grow, however, with hospices waiting for support to create their own therapeutic outdoor spaces.

The new Healing Hand, Helping Hearts Appeal aims to help meet that demand while creating a more sustainable future for hospice gardens. Greenfingers is working towards a long-term ambition to raise £1 million a year by 2029, helping ensure that every children’s hospice in need has the opportunity to benefit from a therapeutic garden.

More than just a garden

For children receiving hospice care, gardens can offer opportunities for play, exploration and sensory stimulation, while providing families with a space to spend time together away from the clinical environment.

For parents and carers, they can offer moments of calm and reflection. For hospice teams, they provide somewhere to pause, recharge and spend time with the children and families they care for.

Every Greenfingers garden is created to respond to the individual needs of the hospice, from sensory planting and accessible play areas to quiet spaces for families to sit together.

Linda Petrons, Director of Fundraising & Communications at Greenfingers Charity, said:

“Our gardens are about so much more than planting and landscaping. They give children the freedom to play, explore and simply be children, while creating precious spaces where families can spend time together during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.

“With the Healing Hand, Helping Hearts Appeal, we want to make sure more children and families can experience the joy, comfort and connection that a thoughtfully designed garden can bring. We’re asking people across the UK to help us make that possible.”

A lasting legacy for children and families

The appeal will support not only the creation of new gardens, but the ongoing care, maintenance and development of existing spaces, helping to ensure they remain safe, welcoming and accessible for the families who rely on them.

Greenfingers is inviting individuals, community groups, businesses, corporate partners and supporters across the horticulture industry and beyond to get involved through fundraising, donations, gifts in kind, partnerships or by simply helping to raise awareness of the appeal.

The charity hopes that, through the campaign, therapeutic gardens will increasingly be recognised as an essential part of holistic children’s hospice care – rather than an optional extra.

To find out more about the Healing Hand, Helping Hearts Appeal and how to support Greenfingers Charity, visit www.greenfingerscharity.org.uk/get-involved/healing-hand-helping-hearts

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