Down By the Sea at Bexhill Landscaped Prom.

Its been a little while since I have been writing.  I apologise for this.  My recent travels last weekend took me to East Sussex, England.  I took my Wife to see Great Dixter Garden, which was fine for a passing visit.  The main point of interest on our trip to East Sussex was to visit Hastings and on to Bexhill.  Parks are going through some tough times at the moment due to Public Finance restraint, so it was very pleasing to see some good quality landscape design, planting and something that is always neglected from design that of quality maintenance.  Our visit along Bexhill Seafront was just that, good design, planting and maintenance.  

A recently completed project at Bexhill Seafront is the enhancement of the Promenade as part of a £5 million landscape enhancement.  The key for the planting on the seafront is it has to be tough, tolerant of the harsh sea salt spray from the English Channel that beats this coast hard and the other notable characteristics is the planting is low maintenance and above all drought tolerant.  

The design was for Rother District Council, by HTA Design, London with funding from the defunct CABE Space through a scheme called sea change of Bexhill on Sea in 2009.  The project encompassed a significant step of Promenade renovation totaling 800 metres.  The promenade has strong emphasis in the linear site towards both planting and the physical hard landscape such as the furniture, paving, surface dressing of the promenade and the layout of which is in balance with the landscape of the shingle beach and the adjoining residential properties.  

The use of timbers creates a compartment feel and at the same time somewhere for people to sit. 

One of two types of seating.  Note the space by the side of the seat for a wheelchair or pram. 

Planting at the Promenade Gardens Bexhill on Sea has been chosen to be tolerant of the rigours of the coast. Plants such as Ballota pseudodictamnus, Eryngium bourgatii, eight different types of Hebe such Hebe 'Blue Gem', Hebe albicans.

Here we can see common but reliable plants of Rudbeckia, Achillea and Santolina.

A green strip of grass runs through the central area of the landscape, tough rye grass to tolerate both wear and weather.  All the grass through the site is box mowed.  I was very impressed with the quality of the maintenance of the whole site.  I could not see any weeds and suppressing any weeds was a good layer of pea shingle.  Rother District Council has combined its Grounds and Landscape Management with its next door neighbor Hastings Borough Council working with the Landscape Group.  From design concept, placing of signage, use of plants and quality maintenance you can see why the project has won the Landscape Institute Awards 2012.  The over used words of 'sustainability' and that of 'biodiversity', are to broad and meaningless for this project, this is simply horticultural ecology and best practice at that alone.

Until Next Time in Green Space.    

A year on and a Winning Landscape.

For me writing a blog is a new thing.  Why?  I suppose I have had the instinct to write one from reading other good blogs on horticulture and plants.  So thinking, I thought I would write one purely for Parks, Greenspace and Landscape Management, wholly with a view to look at trends and appreciate what efforts go into making quality landscapes for all to enjoy.  So my first take is the look at the Olympic Park.

I was reading the headline for the Horticulture Week Magazine on Friday 21 June 2013 and the headline being "Queen Elizabeth Park Olympic Park Park Contract will redefine Parks Work say Landscape Group".  This then had me thinking again how considerable thought has gone into designing the Olympic Park Landscapes.  Having had the opportunity a year ago to visit with some colleagues and see the results of this landscape one can see that there has been thought  into balancing the needs of horticulture, ecology and geology as well as the age old problem, access.  The Olympic delivery authority from the start utilized the expertise and judgement of a variety of professionals especially that of Nigel Dunnett and James Hitchmough, both Professors in Horticultural Ecology and Planting Design at the School of Landscape, Shefeild University.  

A key area that benefits both ecology, horticulture and soil groundwater management has been through the use of swales.  These commonly seen in the USA and their use is to capture and filter water across varying land terrain whilst at the same time conserving water in the water table and preventing flash flooding.  Swales are common across the Olympic Park.

One of the Many Bio Swales at the Olympic Park.

The swales not only manage water but also provide additional area for planting.  A good link to see the work and design of these bio swales at the Olympic Park can be seen on the link of Professor Nigel Dunnett from the Department of Landscape at Sheffield University.

Another important and fine aspect of the Olympic Park is the variety of space.  Whilst ecology and horticulture are balanced so is the need for quality turf management with the provision of lawns.  These not only complement the variety of landscapes but will provide and important function for people to relax on whilst visiting the Park.  As was seen in the Olympics and Para Olympics people just enjoyed relaxing on the grass and a well managed regime is makes these lawns highly effective. 

Well managed turf complements the landscape and provides areas for relaxing.  

The ornamental lawns are boxed mowed and for establishment rubber crumb has been incorporated to prevent wear prior to the Olympic foot traffic, below.

Park Manager and Landscape Group General Manager Alister Bayford said: "Its a real opportunity to redefine what park management is about because we haven't got any historical working practices". Over the coming months I hope to highlight some of the new working practices that can benefit parks and the there future management.

Here both a bio swale, ecological grass area with an ornamental Geranium that provides impact on the bank

What I found interesting is the small compartments of ecology, ornamental plants and fine turf management.  Note how the land has been designed to manage and conserve water, which is a precious resource in the landscape. 

Until Next Time.