Gardening Home | Planting Scheme | What’s Growing? | Get Involved/Join the Mailing List
Hello!
Welcome! You are here because you scanned the QR code on soon-to-be flower bed on the north east corner at the north pavilion of Hove Lagoon gardens!
Over the winter of 2026 into the early spring of 2027 this new flower bed is lying dormant below weed-proof membrane so that come early March we will be able to use Charles Dowdings “no dig” philosophy and simply lay cardboard and then compost, and then plant new plants for all to enjoy!
But right now we are very keen to get you involved!
We’d love you to be part of the story of the new flower bed.
We’re aiming to be as inclusive as possible, and as this bed is the most seen – it is nearest to the crossing by the Gather Inn – we want you to be involved.
There’s a number of ways you can do this:
- you can come our join our garden volunteer group on Saturdays from 9 – 11
- you can either just provide a seaside-hardy plant (or plants), or come down and plant your own plant(s)*
- you can pledge a plant (or plants), or simply make a donation to the Friends of Hove Lagoon gardens fund
Planting ideas
So far we’ve got our hearts set on a bold design of planting some of our favourite coastal-hardy plants in a bold stripy planting scheme. This is to enhance the impact of the view from the roadside as you look down, but also to maximise the impact of the favourite plants that we know are much-loved by you the local community.
Make your pledge now
Follow this link to Hove Lagoon gardens GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/358cc21a5 £5 will buy you one small plant, £15 will buy you one large one, or 3 small ones. Leave a note or message and we will make sure it features next to your plant in the bed.
The team behind the expansion
- Tom Stear, Tim Aldiss & Chris Flint, volunteer gardening leads
- Dan Boorman, landscaping contractor, Hove Gardens & Love Garden Community
- Mark, Eileen, Joanna, Paula, Agnes, and all our past and future gardening volunteers
How it all began
The Hove Lagoon Planting Scheme was conceived at much the same time as Friends of Hove Lagoon, back in 2016. The Friends felt that the grassy areas of Hove Lagoon were neglected, and that it would be great to bring a flowery focus to the area. The idea began to take shape in 2017 after a donor kindly offered to provide some tulips for the Southern banks – and it was suggested that FoHL might consider something a little more ambitious!
Working group, and initial plans
A Planting Scheme working group was forged, and early ideas were that the Scheme should have a sea theme, and possibly some raised beds.In 2017 Chris Flint took the lead as Planting Scheme co-ordinator. Nick Dexter, a local landscape designer, offered his services for free, and he began drafting plans. Nick’s suggestions included seaside-resilient, low level planting. An early design was costed out and found to be too ambitious financially, so it was decided that a simpler plan would be needed, and that this would be regarded as ‘Phase 1’ of the Scheme. Read more about the design on Nick Dexter’s website.
*Plants must be from our proven seaside-hardy list!
