Secret to an ace display? It's the Wimbledon Twist...

"IT'S just a wow!" says Mary Bowie, echoing the thoughts of tens of thousands of her fellow visitors to the Wimbledon championships this past fortnight.

- By Geoff Maynard

And while the tennis has been exceptional, that's not what she's referring to - instead she's talking about the floral extravaganza at SW19.

Mary, 44, is enjoying her first Wimbledon alongside husband Mike, 48, but she has long been keeping an eye on the botanical bliss at the site.

The insurance lawyer from nearby East Putney routed her daily runs past the gates as the gardeners got to work, with more than half the 50,000 plants adorning the grounds being brought in specially for the tournament.

Mary says: "The flowers are just so beautiful. It's the absolute attention to detail they give to each and every plant that is so amazing.

"I feel like I have followed this beautiful journey all the way through, and when it's ready for the championships it's simply amazing.

"The colours - the purples, the whites, the greens - are amazing. I feel grateful and blessed just to see

'It's the attention to detail they give to every plant that's so amazing'

it. It's just perfect visually and you can see so much work has gone into it."

Head gardener Martyn Falconer, 46, has been making the 42-acre site look amazing for 25 years with his 20-strong team for the championships.

The challenge this year has been the six-week run in with so much hot weather and very little rain.

Martyn says: "It's all in the planning and making sure we are getting the plants out at the right time.

"The team are very well equipped for dealing with all situations - it's a well-oiled machine."