A FLOWER bed in North Berwick’s Lodge Grounds pays tribute to both the NHS and the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

It was created and planted by East Lothian Council’s amenity services gardening team last week.

Planning for the bed started months in advance.

Johnn Stevens, local amenity officer, said: “Last year we were thinking about the theme for 2020 and decided upon a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of VE Day and I started to order the plants required in October.

“When the time came for planting, we were now working during the pandemic and thought it appropriate to add our thanks to the NHS, so I designed a display to combine both themes.

“With the help of Angus Campbell, in the council’s plant nursery, I managed to source enough plants for this display.”

The types of plants used in the final design vary from carpet bed plants to annual bedding.

Johnn estimated that about 3,500 plants in total were used.

He added: “The prep and planting process took about 60 hours, with my charge hand David Brunton and other members of staff achieving this outcome, which was a big team effort.

“We are very proud of the end result and what it represents.”

The letters that make up ‘NHS’ were created using blue senecio flowers and the heart surrounding them with red echeveria outlined with pyrethrum.

The ‘VE75’ section is grey echeveria, filled with ‘crystal palace’ lobelia, and outlined with pyrethrum and alyssum in the inner circle and ‘Cambridge blue’ lobelia in the outer circle.