Over 300,000 wetland plants are being grown in Thetford, Norfolk for the 100 hectare Olympic Park. The UK’s largest ever urban river and wetland planting will help create a colourful riverside setting and festival atmosphere for the London 2012 Games and new space for people and wildlife in legacy.
Over 30 species of native reeds, rushes, grasses, sedges, wet wildflowers and irises have been grown initially by Salix in its nursery on the Gower peninsular in Wales with around a third grown from cuttings and seeds collected in and around the Olympic Park before construction started in 2008. The plants are now being grown-on in waterbeds and pallets in Thetford designed and built by the company in Thetford before being planted in the Olympic Park from next spring
The Olympic Park parklands will regenerate and open up the waterways that crisscross the area for the public and wildlife. Visitors to the Park during the Games and in legacy will enjoy sloping riverbanks, new riverside cycle and foot paths, wetlands, reedbeds, ditches and swales, ponds and rare wet woodlands. The wetland plants in these areas will create new habitats for a range of native and rare species.