New planting at Palmeira Square has been unveiled – but no decision has yet been made on what to replace its floral clock with.
The square has been fenced off for more than seven months while the flower beds were reworked and replanted. It will remain closed for another few weeks to allow newly laid turf and other planting to establish itself.
Meanwhile, Brighton and Hove City Council is launching a public consultation, hopefully next month, on options to replace the clock. Depending on what is decided, it’s hoped this will be in place by the end of the year – or next spring if new planting is chosen.
Cabinet member for recreation Alan Robins visited the square to help put the last few plants in place.
He said: “What a transformation. It’s been wonderful to see the new planting scheme evolve over the past few weeks, creating a lovely and tranquil space for residents and visitors to enjoy.
“I’d like to thank members of the Friends of Palmeira Square for their continued support, from contributing to the design to getting stuck in with the planting and creating a garden to be proud of.
“This project reflects our commitment to working together to maintain and enhance green spaces for the community, while increasing biodiversity and adapting to climate change.”
The area was redesigned by the council’s Cityparks team, the Friends of Palmeira and Adelaide Partnership, guided by the 1,100 responses to a public consultation.
The council say the new planting scheme prioritises pollinator-friendly species, drought-tolerant plants and ground-cover varieties to support biodiversity and adapt to a changing climate.
The design also celebrates the original pre-1953 layout of the garden, restoring elements that reflect its historic character while introducing modern, sustainable planting.
The picture doesn’t really give any indication as to what it looks like really. All I can see is two palm trees two very uneven earth beds, a derelict mound in the middle and a load of plants lined up ready to be put somewhere. Maybe it would have been better to wait a while until all the planting had been done and the fences taken down. Either way, it will never look as resplendent as it has done in years past.
Never?
Please tel me that picture does not represent seven months work?!!!
I’d like to be positive here, but that’s difficult when you see how long this project has taken – with very little work taking place over several months while the area was fenced off.
It’s also difficult to see why the changes were necessary, except to save on annual maintenance costs, and yet the amount spent on this project must be escalating in admin costs alone.
I for one won’t miss the formal flower beds or the outdated floral clock, but any replacement planting doesn’t/didn’t need to take this long.
We don’t need modern gardening ‘spin’ either – where we pretend the new planting is to attract pollinators and other wildlife, when it’s really about replacing flowers with low maintenance shrubs.
There was also talk about a new fence going up, but that doesn’t seem to have happened.
So far, this seems like one of those council projects where there’s a lot of talking but not much actual change. The token ‘consultation’ process seems equally flawed and wasteful.
Imagine how much cheaper it would have been to send in three gardeners to replant over a few days? No fencing necessary, and no fanfare.
Can’t really tell the difference. Surely consulting on the floral clock replacement should have happened at the start of the process not the end.
So nice to see that the year 1953 was mentioned. As most people know the floral clock was to commemorate the Queen’s coronation and it was the very first within the UK. The labours of the Hove parks and gardens team in those days were without doubt showing what they could do. This area of Hove was a gem and certainly made the residents proud. I believe the clock should be repaired and preserved as is is Hove’s history. As a person has already mentioned deciding of what to do with the clock should have been done before the planting started. We are losing the identity of Hove’s history . Just look at what the council wants to do with the King Alfred. And look at what has been done to the Saltdean lido. We must keep our history. Let us hope our council will see sense and listen to Hove residents.