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2012 Gardens
The 2012 Gardens formed a key part of the Games time landscape and continue to provide horticultural excellence and display. The gardens pay tribute to Britain’s long history of exploration, trade and plant collecting and their impact on the great horticultural diversity and variety of British gardens. The gardens are divided into four climatic zones, each drawing upon the plant communities and ecological character of habitats found in the wild - Asia, Southern Hemisphere, North America and Europe.
The gardens are highly structured, designed for dramatic, year-round effect and are a unique fusion of formal and informal plantings. The contemporary, perennial plantings are interwoven with structural strips with wide swathes of intermingled plants set out in a more naturalistic style. Bold blocks of repeating colours and textures provide a sense of continuity. The plants themselves were carefully selected not only for their beauty but also for their durability and for increasing biodiversity.
The planting design was developed for the 2012 Gardens by Sarah Price, Nigel Dunnett and James Hitchmough working with the landscape architects for the wider Olympic Park (LDA Design and Hargreaves Associates). The approach to the planting was an expression and a celebration of forward-looking horticulture and design, and a demonstration of a sustainable and ecologically-orientated Park. The gardens are continually reviewed and planting mixes enhanced to broaden their interest throughout the year, to increase ecological value and to respond to climate change.
Asia
Asia
The Asia garden focuses on the structure and foliage of the meadows, edges and glades of Asian woodlands. The intricate naturalistic mixing of flowering plants reflect the species sort by plant hunters in the 19th century and the long-established tradition of horticulture in many Asian cultures. The garden has a stronger formal layout with large blocks of Iris and Hosta, and drifts of Lilies, Anemone, Eulalia and Feather reed grass.
Southern Hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere garden was inspired by the exotic species found in South Africa’s Drakensberg range where plants are dramatic in colour and form. With the warming of the climate, many South African plants are increasingly suitable for British gardens. A base layer planting of tussock grasses and low perennials such as South African thistle are broken up with upright summer flowering perennials including Red hot poker, African blue lily and Gladioli and tall blocks of structural grasses such as Thatching reed.
North America
North America
The North America garden reflects the flowers found in the North American priaries. Plant collecting from North America was at its height in the 1800s and it is still a key source for summer flower colour in British gardens today. With only small fragments of prairie remaining in the wild, the garden reflects these grassland communities of Aster and Coneflower species and their long flowering period both in terms of colour and ecological value as a food source.
Europe
Europe
The Europe garden is based on a traditional hay meadow but includes more robust species that flower for longer. From the 14th century, the influx of plants from Europe that were already a key source for most garden plants from the classical civilisation, increased with the growth of trade and exploration. In contrast to the other three gardens, the planting of the Europe garden consists of a matrix of Rough feather grass interspersed with successive layers of flowering perennials including Giant scabious and Turkish sage.
Plant Species
Asia
Trees
Betula albosinensis (multistem) - Chinese red birch
Koelreuteria paniculata (multistem) - Pride of India
Salix babylonica ‘Pendula’ - Weeping willow
Hedge
Buxus sempervirens - Common box
Perennials
Anemone hupehensis 'September Charm' - Japanese anemone
Anemone x hybrida ‘Hapsden Abundance’ - Japanese anemone
Anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert' - Japanese anemone
Anemone x hybrida ‘Koenigin Charlotte’ - Japanese anemone
Anemone x hybrida 'Prinz Heinrich' - Japanese anemone
Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' - Feather reed grass
Calamagrostis brachytricha - Korean feather reed grass
Hakonechloa macra - Japanese forest grass
Hosta 'Tall Boy' - Plantain lily
Iris chrysographes ‘Black Knight’ - Iris
Miscanthus sinensis 'Flamingo' - Eulalia
Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus' - Eulalia
Miscanthus sinensis 'Siberfeder' - Eulalia
Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Rosea' - Red bistort
Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Firetail' - Red bistort
Persicaria polymorpha - White fleece flower
Sanguisorba tenuifolia var. alba - White-flowered Slender-leaved burnet
Sanguisorba tenuifolia ‘Purpurea’ - Slender-leaved burnet
Thalictrum delavayi 'Album' - Chinese meadow rue
Bulbs
Allium 'Mount Blanc' - Allium
Lilium speciosum var. rubrum - Japanese Lily
Lilium tigrinum 'Sweet Surrender' - Tiger Lily
Narcissus 'Thalia' - Daffodil
Southern Hemisphere
Trees
Acacia dealbata (multistem) - Blue wattle
Hedgeline
Buxus sempervirens - Common box
Perennials
Agapanthus africanus - African blue lily
Agapanthus 'Bressingham Blue' - African blue lily
Agapanthus ' Purple Cloud' - African blue lily
Agapanthus inapertus intermedius - African blue lily
Berkheya purpurea - South African thistle
Blechnum chilense - Chile blechnum
Bulbine abyssinica - Bushy bulbine
Carex testacea - Orange New Zealand sedge
Chondropetalum tectorum - Thatching or cape reed
Diascia integerrima - Entire-leaved twinspur
Dierama pulcherrimum 'Lancelot' - Angel’s fishing rod
Eragrostis curvula 'Totnes Burgundy' - Weeping love grass
Gladiolus papillo 'Ruby' - Ruby butterfly gladiolus
Haphlocarpa scaposa - False gerbera
Helichrysum aureum - Everlasting golden strawflower
Hesperantha major - Crimson flag lily
Kniphofia 'Citrina' - Red hot poker
Kniphofia 'Papaya Popsicle' - Red hot poker
Kniphofia rooperi - Red hot poker
Kniphofia 'Tawny King' - Red hot poker
Kniphofia thompsonii var. Snowdenii - Red hot poker
Kniphofia 'Triangularis Cameron' - Red hot poker
Phygelius aequalis ‘Cerise’ - Cape figwort
Phygelius aequalis 'Cherry Ripe' - Cape figwort
Stipa ichu - Ichu
Themeda triandra - Roo grass
Tritonia disticha - Drackensberg tritonia
Tulbergia violacea 'John May Special' - Society garlic
Watsonia pillansi - Beatrice watsonia
Bulbs
Amarine belladiva - Amarine
Eucomis bicolor - Pineapple lily
Galtonia candicans - Cape hyacinth
North America
Trees
Crataegus monogyna (multistem) - Hawthorn
Malus ‘Evereste’ (multistem) - Crab apple
Hedge
Buxus sempervirens - Common box
Perennials
Andropogon gerardii - Big blue stem
Asclepias tuberosa - Butterfly weed
Aster azureus - Blue devils
Aster divaricatus - White wood aster
Aster macrophyllus 'Twilight' (Eurybia) - Hervey’s aster
Aster oblongifolius (Symphyotrichum) - Aromatic aster
Aster turbinellus (Symphyotrichum) - Praire aster
Callirhoe bushii - Bush’s poppy mallow
Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb' - Tickseed
Echinacea pallida - Pale purple coneflower
Echinacea paradoxa - Bush’s purple coneflower
Echinacea purpurea 'Arts Pride' - Purple coneflower
Echinacea purpurea 'Kims Knee High' - Purple coneflower
Echinacea purpurea 'Rubinstern' - Purple coneflower
Eryngium yuccifolium - Rattlesnake-master
Geum triflorum - Grandfather’s beard
Gillenia trifoliata - Bowman’s root
Heuchera villosa - Hairy alum root
Liatris aspera - Rough blazing star
Oenothera missouriensis incana - Ozark sundrop
Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal' - Switch grass
Panicum virgatum 'Strictum' - Switch grass
Parthenium integrifolium - American feverfew
Penstemon cobaea var. 'Purpureus' - Cobaea-flowered penstemon
Phlox divaricata - Wild sweet william
Polemonium reptans - Jacob’s ladder
Rudbeckia fulgida deamii - Deam’s coneflower
Rudbeckia maxima - Great coneflower
Ruellia humilis - Wild petunia
Schizachyrium scoparium - Blue stem
Silphium laciniatum - Compass plant
Silphium terebinthinaceum - Prairie burdock
Solidago caesia - Blue-stemmed goldenrod
Solidago speciosa - Showy goldenrod
Sporobolus heterolopis - Prairie dropseed
Verbena bonariensis - Purple top
Verbena hastate 'Rosea' - Pink-flowered Blue vervain
Veronicastrum virginicum 'Temptation' - Culver’s root
Yucca flaccida - Needle palm
Bulbs
Allium ' Summer Beauty' - Portuguese allium
Eremurus ‘Shelford Hybrids’ - Foxtail lily
Europe
Trees
Crataegus monogyna (multistem) - Common hawthorn
Hedge
Buxus sempervirens - Common box
Perennials
Achnatherum calamagrostis (Stipa) - Rough feather grass
Campanula lactiflora 'Pritchard's Variety' - Milky bellflower
Centaurea dealbata 'Steenbergii' - Mealy centaury
Cephalaria dipsacoides - Teasel-like scabious
Cephalaria gigantea - Giant scabious
Deschampsia cespitosa 'Gold Veil' - Tufted hair grass
Euphorbia palustris - Marsh spurge
Geranium sylvaticum 'Mayflower' - Wood cranesbill
Leucanthemum x superbum 'T E Killin' - Shasta daisy
Lychnis chalcedonica - Maltese cross
Lythrum salicaria 'Blush' - Purple loosestrife
Lythrum virgatum 'Dropmore Purple' - Wand loosestrife
Molinia caerulea 'Moorhexe' - Purple moor-grass
Molinia caerulea 'Transparent' - Purple moor-grass
Phlomis russeliana - Turkish sage
Sanguisorba officinalis - Great burnet
Succisa pratensis - Devil’s bit scabious
Telekia speciosa - Yellow ox eye
Trollius europaeus - Globeflower
Bulbs
Allium bulgaricum - Bulgarian honey garlic
Allium sphaerocephalon - Rounded-headed leek