Planting completed at the Olympic Park

After a marathon two-year project, the transformation of 100 hectares of derelict land on the banks of the River Thames into a vast array of greenery has been finished ahead of next summer’s Games.

Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) competition winners Rachel Read and 12-year-old Hannah Clegg planted the last flowers at a ceremony in London. The pair designed the RHS Olympic Park Great British Garden as well.

“The garden fits in so well with the feel of the whole parkland and yet has the sense of the British garden that we were trying to achieve,” Ms Read added.

In total there has been 4,000 semi-mature trees, over 300,000 wetland plants and 15,000 square metres of lawn planted in the area for the Games.

The gardening competition to design some of the patches received 200 entries from both the adult and under-16 categories