One of our newest gardens at Paradise Park is our photo opp Hexagon Garden.
During storm Eunice, in February 2022, a large tree that shaded the area was blown down. Once we had cleared the tree, we were left with a blank canvas.
A 6 sided wooden gazebo was the only thing left standing in the area and that inspired us go with a hexagon theme.
We’d wanted to try a ‘living wall’ for a while and thought that would fit in well with the hexagon theme. We made hexagon shape containers for the living wall that would feature on the back fence of the garden and the gazebo. Alongside the living wall, we made a 3 tier, 6 sided, raised bed from sleepers, and made this the centre piece of the garden. We also built a staggered corner feature from hexagonal wooden planters to go next to the living wall in the opposite corner to the gazebo.
We chose to plant Sedums and Sempervivums in shades of red and green in the garden. Both are evergreen perennials and the colours compliment each other beautifully.
On the living wall and the centre piece we planted:
- Sempervivum Kramers Spinrad
- Sempervivum arachnoideum Rubin
- Sempervivum Standard green
- Sempervivum Silberspitz
- Sempervivum big sam Pink Pomelo
- Sempervivum Starburst
- Sedum acre Aureum
On the corner feature we planted:
- Vinca ‘Ralph Shugert’
- Vinca ‘Illumination’
- Vinca ‘Gertrude Jekyll’
- Carex ‘ Evergold’
- Scaevola Blue
- Branchycombe Fresco Candy
- Dianthus ‘Pink Kisses’
For the path to the gazebo, we decided to add stepping stones. We cut edges on large paving slabs so that they had a little more detail than a standard square shape. We covered the rest of the area in Cotswold style stones to bring out the colours of the plants and finished the garden off with fencing. On the back fence we chose a closed picket fence on which to hang our living wall containers, alongside some hexagon detailing, and to close off the garden area. On the other side, we installed a more open picket fence that visitors can see through as they pass on the train.
The finishing touch was to mount our #ParadiseParkGardens sign to the front of the gazebo, above its living wall feature. We’d love our visitors to take photos in our new Hexagon garden and tag us on social media using #ParadiseParkGardens. Our favourite every month wins a prize so make sure you post a photo next time you visit! Here’s our first lucky winners, Amelie and Juliette, who won in April.
And so our Hexagon Garden was complete. It’s been a pleasure watching the plants bloom and grow over the past couple of months and really bring the garden to life. I hope you agree, the final effect is stunning and we hope our visitors enjoy the view soon, and take a photo too!
