The HESCO Garden

Designed by Leeds City Council, Parks and Countryside. The garden draws attention to the importance of waterpower in the industrial evolution of Leeds. There are working examples of this process in two key public visitor attractions: Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills and Thwaite Mills.

The garden style is reflective of a semi-natural setting incorporating cultivated ornamental trees, shrubs and perennials along with native species.The main feature takes its inspiration from a mill. A six-metre facade is set against a rockwork escarpment that feeds a working waterwheel. A large mill pool adds to the setting and planting is chosen to reflect how carefully selected cultivate plants can provide a sympathetic and attractive balance of colour.

Three specimens of Thuja plicata, which stand at almost nine metres in height,  are positioned around the mill façade providing scale and drama, and a solid backdrop to help screen the floral marquee. Nothofagus and Acer campestre, soften this screen as is extends to the left front of the garden, and where cultivated plants merge into native or near native species.

Parthenocissus and Lonicera have been extensively used to soften the mill façade and provide a more natural fill for the boundaries. Clematis montana adds colour and character, formed into a mound of growth again linking the cultivated with the natural planting. Azaleas will provide accents of colour to punctuate the woodland planting, whilst native plants will extend around the pond and front of the garden, giving a somewhat natural feel.

Ferns will be used to compliment the planting and especially in shady woodland and in crevices on the rockwork. The colour pallet is complimentary to our somewhat natural planting style, and whilst incorporating a range of colours that are in some cases bright in their own right, when carefully positioned and softened by neutral colours and textured foliage they portray a natural relaxing feel with occasional accents of colour to stimulate our enquiring minds.

Pinks, blues, yellows, whites and pastel tones soften the character of strong dramatic specimen trees.

Plants list   

Ornamental Area

Ferns

Asplenium scolopendrium	Dryopteris affinis	Athyrium filix-femina
Dryopteris erythrosora	Polystichum setiferum	Matteuccia struthiopteris

Trees

Acer campestre

Nothofagus antarctica

Thuja plicata

Shrubs

Sambucus nigra f. porphyrophylla 'Black Lace'

Hydrangea anomala subsp. petiolaris

Woodland and Ornamental Plants

Digitalis x mertonensis	Astrantia major subsp. involucrata 'Shaggy'	Salvia nemorosa 'Lubecca'
Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost'	Filipendula purpurea	Acanthus hirsutus
Anemone nemorosa 'Leeds' Variety'	Verbascum bombyciferum	Chaerophyllum hirsutum 'Roseum'
Salvia x sylvestris 'Dear Anja'	Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Karmina'	Anthriscus sylvestris
Mertensia virginica	Deschampsia flexuosa	Rodgersia pinnata
Geranium macrorrhizum	Geranium ibericum	Allium neapolitanum 'Grandiflorum'

Natural area

Trees

Acer campestre

Crataegus monogyna

Shrubs

Viburnum opulus

Salix purpurea 'Nana'

Damp and natural

Ajuga reptans	Carex pendula	Geranium sanguineum
Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum'	Alchemilla erythropoda	Luzula nivea
Geum rivale	Lychnis flos-cuculi 'White Robin'	Persicaria bistorta
Achillea ptarmica	Aquilegia vulgaris	Euphorbia amygdaloides
Geranium sylvaticum

Pond/Margin

Caltha palustris	Iris pseudacorus	Hosta sieboldiana var. elegans
Myosotis scorpioides	Primula florindae	Butomus umbellatus
Menyanthes trifoliata	Filipendula ulmaria	Iris sibirica 'Alba'
Camassia quamash	Nymphaea alba	Primula x bulleesiana
Juncus inflexus

Path edges

Geranium robertianum