There’s something very evocative about a sea-washed look in a garden, complete with beach effect gravel and maritime plants. It’s something that Geoff Stonebanks has created and honed in his coastal garden at Driftwood by sea.
Creating a coastal garden isn’t as hard as it sounds. All you need are hardy plants, good shelter and some natty nautical props. There’s a realisation that having a garden in a coastal location makes you garden differently. If you approach it like an inland garden, you are more than likely going to fail. You need to learn to deal with wind and salt spray, establish shelter and choose the right seaside plants. In retrospect, all the elements that work against you gardening by the sea, have, for me, worked in my favour. I was forced to create something unexpected and different. Here are my top five tips for success.
Create windbreaks
In my experience, one of the hardest things to deal with in creating a garden close to the sea is to learn how the salt laden air is going to impact on what you plant. I’ve tried several windbreak options and have latterly favoured the use of upturned chunks of railway sleepers or reclaimed groynes. The large boat I have in the centre of my garden is also a practical wind break, allowing me to plant more delicate plants. A great choice as a first line of defence is a hedge of Elaeagnus x ebbingei. You can see the wonderful large hedge I now have along the path up from the road to the house. This hedge now has also become a bird hotel, with so many sparrows and robins making their nests inside.
Use waxy & shiny leaved shrubs & grasses
There are many plants to choose from that fit this bill. Try grasses like Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ and Crambe maritima. Senicio cineraria ‘Silver Dust’, Tamarisk tetrandra, Euonymous japonicus are all great plants that I have found work well for me. Sometimes it can be a case of trial and error but they have worked every time for me in the very exposed beach garden at the front of the house.
Use nautical props
If, like me, you want to create a real nautical feel to your plot, then some lobster pots or fish crates perhaps interspersed with some verbena bonariensis growing through work really well! Maybe find yourself an anchor or two and some marine buoys, not to mention heavy marine rope that can be used for perfect edging! I was very lucky to be able to utilise fish crates that my grandfather had used on the docks in Fleetwood, back in the 1950’s. My parents had used them for moving house and they were still stored in their garage when I was creating the garden. Over time, many visitors have brought me items on a second visit that, either they no longer require, or they just thought of the garden when they saw it. All eight anchors, bar the original, have been donated by returning visitors.
Use succulents
In my humble opinion, nothing gives the coastal garden more of a tropical feel than the agaves! But there’s a trick to growing them – they don’t like the wet. Plant in containers to move around and keep dry in the winter months under cover! That said I do have a couple that seem to be surviving in the ground as we garden on chalk. Over the years I have accumulated probably eighty agaves, some large and some babies created each spring as I divide the plants and then relocate them around the garden.
Pinch my 5 favourites
Five seaside plants that have excelled in my coastal garden and which have become firm favourites are as follows:
Bupleurum fruticosum or shrubby hare’s-ear, is endemic to the Mediterranean region. It lives in sunny hills, walls and rocky places. I have a large clump at the side of the house that visitors see as they make their way into the back garden.
Coronilla glauca ‘Citrina’ has small, pretty leaflets and intricate flowers that come back year after year and don’t seem to mind the salt winds at all. All the experts say it needs a sheltered location but mine has survived well for over ten years now.
Acanthus mollis, commonly called Bear’s Breeches with handsome, lobed foliage and tall, erect racemes of two-lipped flowers with colourful bracts. The clump pictured in my garden look amazing every summer and are much commented on by visitors.
Tamarix tetranda, is a beautiful small tree which produces magnificent, feathery-plumes of pink flowers. Swaying gently in the breeze, this architectural low maintenance shrub makes a superb focal point in any garden and it tolerates salt and strong winds, making it the perfect addition to coastal gardens.
Verbena bonariensis, is an amazing plant that really thrives in my beach garden. Verbena bonariensis has many common names, the purple top vervain, cluster top vervain, Argentinian vervain, tall verbena or pretty verbena and is a member of the verbena family cultivated as a flowering annual or herbaceous perennial plant. Once you have them you are unlikely to lose them as they self-seed around the garden every summer.
Good luck and check out my own coastal garden at www.driftwoodbysea.co.uk or why not arrange a visit before 31st July, by emailing [email protected]
