Royal Parks pays tribute to NHS in front of Buckingham Palace

In the flowerbeds in front of Buckingham Palace, the Royal Parks charity has created two tributes to the NHS, to mark the organisations birthday.

The NHS celebrates 72 years on Sunday, which is being marked by two flower beds, measuring 12 metres by five metres, which spell out NHS in giant letters.

The beds can be enjoyed by park visitors and also viewed from the sky. They are positioned in the Memorial Gardens, part of St James’s Park in front of Buckingham Palace.

This is the first design change to the Memorial Garden in decades, possibly since the First World War when flowerbeds were planted with potatoes. The letters are formed with 1,500 white begonias (Begonia semperflorens ‘Heaven White’) against a blue background of drought resistant succulents (Echeveria imbricate, Senecio serpens and Sedum pachyclados).

The flowerbeds will be in the Memorial Gardens until mid-September.

Rob Dowling, assistant park manager at St James’s Park said: “We hope it demonstrates how special the NHS is to The Royal Parks and is just a small token of our appreciation for all their hard work and dedication this year, and every year.”