Carbrook wins sunflower challenge for dementia awareness
28 September 2026
Carbrook retirees are celebrating a win in the first Great Sunflower Grow Off to encourage creativity, connection and highlight dementia awareness.
What started as a simple sunflower-growing challenge blossomed into a statewide campaign across more than 15 BlueCare retirement living villages. Around 1,800 residents took part, with more than 1,000 sunflower seeds distributed and more than 20 activities and events held across the state.
As part of BlueCare's activities for Dementia Awareness Week (21-17 September), the Grow Off winners were announced, with the best overall entry awarded to residents at BlueCare Wirunya Retirement Village at Carbrook. Judges say their project 'brought the village together around a shared goal'.
The residents planted 93 seeds, held working bees and created a sunflower display for residents in the residential aged-care dementia unit. The project has now inspired plans for a regular gardening group and community veggie patch.
The Grow Off was designed to encourage residents to connect, learn and participate in ways that suited them, while creating natural opportunities to start conversations about dementia and supporting people living with dementia, their families and carers.
ABOVE: Doug and Margaret Tucker at Elanora with their sunflower project.
BlueCare Executive General Manager Retirement Living Natalie Smith says the Grow Off evolved beyond its original challenge of growing the biggest sunflower to become a celebration of what residents could create together.
'The idea is simple – why wait until someone has dementia to start that conversation?” Mrs Smith says
'Sunflowers became the starting point for something much bigger. We saw residents gardening, painting, baking, crafting and working alongside younger generations. Most importantly, we saw people connecting with one another and finding new ways to talk about dementia.
'That is the real impact of this initiative – showing how a simple idea can open the door to connection, creativity and conversations that matter.'
Some of the winning initiatives included residents and school students joining together to build LEGO sunflowers and paint sunflower artwork together while having conversations about dementia.
ABOVE: BlueCare Wondall Gardens Retirement Village residents enjoyed connecting with Year 6 students from Moreton Bay College for the inaugural Great Sunflower Grow Off.
'By growing the sunflowers, it's turned the invisible heavy reality of dementia into a visible, beautiful truth,' says one of the winners, 93-year-old Doug Tucker, who took on growing sunflowers as a new hobby that also brought him more conversations with visitors using the pathway in his retirement village at Elanora on the Gold Coast.
The Grow Off winners are:
Golden Sunflower Award: Best overall entry – BlueCare Wirunya Retirement Village in Carbrook.
Best in Bloom: Best garden or pot display - Doug and Margaret Tucker at BlueCare Elanora Gardens Retirement Village in Elanora.
Garden Glory: Most creative idea or meaningful story – (joint winners) Glenda Evans at BlueCare Carlyle Gardens Retirement Village in Bargara, and Jocelyn Gartner at BlueCare Iona Retirement Village in Kenmore.
Sky High: Most memorable personal experience – Margaret Walker at BlueCare Nandeebie Retirement Village in Alexandra Hills.
Intergenerational: Best involvement generations – (joint winners) BlueCare Argyle Gardens Retirement Village in Bundaberg, and BlueCare Wondall Gardens Retirement Village in Manly West.
PHOTO AT TOP: BlueCare Wirunya Retirement Village residents with their winning sunflower display about to bloom.