Gardening is the best blooming medicine for Donald
Pruning and trimming has helped a pensioner win awards for his garden - and cancer sufferer Donald Hall believes it is also keeping him healthy.
Mr Hall has twice been diagnosed with cancer and has also had a serious heart operation but feels caring for his flowers and lawn is therapeutic.
His garden has won competitions in the past and Mr Hall said working outside with his wife Barbara every day was a joy.
The couple's garden at their home, in Abingdon Road, Netherton, is packed with everything from marigolds to begonias.
Barbara, aged 74, is a retired florist, and the pair both spend hours in the garden and have done so since Mr Hall's first cancer diagnosis in 2005.
He battled back to beat tongue cancer, but was then dealt another blow with a prostate cancer diagnosis.
Mr Hall, 77, said: "Gardening is good for my health.
"The gardening I do isn't heavy stuff like digging or setting vegetables - it's just a matter of keeping the lawn and flowers looking nice.
"I'm out there every day and so is my wife, it takes up a lot of my time.
"If you're in the garden it takes things off your mind, but if you sit in the house doing nothing or watching the television things come up and you worry about them.
"Cancer can be mentioned on the TV and then that gets on your mind."
Mr Hall also thanked his wife for her unwavering support and said: "If I hadn't met Barbara I don't think I would be here today.
"I was on my own but since we met she's been second to none. I always tell her that no matter what I do for her or give her, it will never repay her for what she's done for me.
"The only other lady who comes close is my mother."
Former car components inspector Mr Hall met Barbara around a decade ago at Wood Farm Golf and Country club in Essington.
They work together to keep their garden in the best shape possible.
Their pristine lawn is flanked by a selection of roses, geraniums, fuchsias, begonias, petunias and Busy Lizzies.
Mr Hall said he will buy any type of flower - as long as it will look nice with the others he has already planted.
He said he takes particular pride in pruning the lawn.
When the pair won the Bunches and Bows garden competition in 2004, judge Joe Dunn said he had never seen such a beautiful grass carpet.
