Western Cancer Centre Dubbo well-being garden blooms a year on from planting

The garden, at Western Cancer Centre Dubbo, was planted after 12 months of organising and fundraising by the community and local businesses.

Today, the garden is providing solace and reflection opportunities not only for patients undergoing cancer treatment at the centre - but also for their friends and family, and staff members at the centre.

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Tim Williams, Western Cancer Centre Nursing Unit Manager, said anyone on the hospital campus could use the garden and it had become a go-to for staff members eating their lunch.

"We've had the opportunity for staff to have time out in that garden for lunches as well as a few counselling sessions and photo opportunities for different areas of the hospital," Mr Williams told the Daily Liberal.

He said given the mostly clinical and sterile nature of the hospital, the garden "has that calming effect on a person's spirit and it gives them peace to look at the natural environment, and gain a sense of well-being and peace from that".

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He said the accessible garden "becomes a little bit of an oasis in between all the clinical corridors".

"From a patient point-of-view, looking out over that while waiting for treatment, they're able to see a calm place."

The garden features a monument that allows First Nations patients "who are coming off country to bring some soil from their country and rub it into the sandstone ... and have a connection to country while they're on treatment," Mr Williams said.

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He thanked the volunteers and businesses who were involved in funding and planting the garden, including the volunteers at Walan Community Garden.

Walan Community Garden volunteer Helen Eyre maintains the garden and said "it's added a lot" to the facility.

"We've had comments from patients and they said they loved it and it was a great idea," Ms Eyre told the Daily Liberal.

She said the lilly pillies have fruited, the lavender is in bloom, the crepe myrtles are starting to flower and the water plants "are well established".