Tower of London.Photo: HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES
Royals fans can literally slide intoQueen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations!
The entrance to a newfloral tribute at the Tower of Londoncalled the Superbloom includes a slide down from the entrance to give the celebration a new playful edge.
The moat around one of the world’s most famous palaces has opened to visitors, as 20 million seeds of 29 different species have been planted to create a spectacular garden. The 13th-century moat that once helped defend the Tower from invaders has been a lawn since 1845, when the swampy, fetid mess was filled in.
But people haven’t been able to freely walk around it until now, with the floral tribute dedicated to the Queen, 96.
Tower of London.HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES
The Superbloom is meant to pay homage to naturally occurring phenomena that, when conditions are right, see massive concurrent sprouting of flowers and plants.
“The Platinum Jubilee is a rare occurrence to match that,” Rhiannon Goddard, project director for the Historic Royal Palaces’s exhibit, says. “People are stepping outside the city and into nature.”
Below the slide is an ongoing legacy, a new natural landscape has been created as the palace are set to keep it open for years to come.
“Planting will change but it’s a nice opportunity for people to come down. It’s the biggest change here at the Tower since 1845,” Goddard adds.
In bloom now at the gardens are purple alliums — matching the color of the Jubilee emblem. Cornflowers sprouting through too, a blue color that serves as a nod to the moat’s water.
But with it being a relatively dry spring, with only 30% of the average rainfall, it doesn’t have the full effect yet.
“Seedlings are coming through but they are a little behind,” Goddard concedes.
He listened to the traffic and recorded it and the music mimmicks its rhythm and frequency. “The sound of the horns of the traffic feels like they’re part of the score,” Cooper adds.
“It’s designed to slow you down as it opens up to a circular place, to give people space to stop and look,” Jenkins says.
The moat tour ends with copper and bronze sculptures of bees and other insects suspended from stems making them appear to be buzzing above the gardens.
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Superbloomwill be open from June 1 until September 18. Later in the summer, visitors will be able to visit until 10:30 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday to see the garden lit up with colored beams targeted on specific flowers.
Around 1,500 schools from across the U.K. are also taking part in a legacy project, planting seeds in their own playgrounds and fields and learning about how gardens can benefit wellbeing.
source: people.com
