Coastal gardens are often considered challenging spaces to design gardens for; often associated with strong winds, clay soil and harsh conditions they are some of the most challenging spaces to consider. As coastal garden designers we have spent the last 10+ years discovering the best methods to create a coastal garden which feels comfortable and is able to adapt with the surrounding environment. Within this blog post, we have created a step by step guide for the things to consider when coastal garden planting.
Understanding coastal conditions
Before starting even picking up a pen or considering designing what you want to goes into your garden, you need to consider the conditions of your current space in order to assess what coastal garden planting you can have.
Wind conditions: First step, go out into your garden throughout the day and consider what direction the wind comes from, note it down. Often gardens along the coast have prevailing winds from the sea, these are strong winds which can effect the comfort in different areas of your garden. You might have a sloped garden or a large tree and so certain areas can feel worse than others.
Understanding the salt exposure: Consider how close your garden sits to sea? Are you directly on the coast, we often consider 0-30 meters from the coast as extreme conditions. These conditions means the salt from the sea is carried by the wind and can burn the leaves by drying them out or turn them brown (which we don’t want). It also coats the soil, which makes it harder for to roots to absorb water, this proximity often comes with a limited range of plants. 30-100m from the coast is still high exposure, here you have much more plant choice however you are still limited because of the salt exposure from high winds during storms etc. 100-500+m from the coast line allows for many common plants to thrive in your garden and here you have the most choice.
Soil Type: consider if its sandy/ loose/ clay / free draining. This will effect the choice of plants which will thrive within you garden.
Choose Wind & Salt Tolerant Plants
Here’s the fun part. Before going to the garden center and purchasing one of everything you like, lets just take a second. Have a look on Pinterest / Google at different styles of plantings, check what plants work with your coastal garden, often low growing or flexible (so they dont snap) style of planting works best. Waxy, hairy or small leaved plants are resistant to salt damage.
Great choices include things like:
Shrubs: Hebe, Escallonia, Elaeagnus
Flowers: Sea thrift (armeria martitma) , lavender, echiops
Grasses, Stipa (adds movement without being too structural in the garden)
Ground cover: we always always recomend creeping thyme, sedum
Create Shelter (without blocking all the wind)
This is your time to start dividing up the space, focus on different areas of your garden, this will reduce the wind and create really lovely moments of quiet. Dividing up your garden (however small) is key to having a garden which feels considered and designed. Think about the different spaces you might want, an area for eating, an area for sitting, games, planting, veg etc. Draw out your garden and block out these areas.
Shelter can be created with things like permeable windbreaks, slatted fences, trellises. Layered planting with tall, medium and low shrubs. Hedges are an amazing way to divide different areas but not block out the spaces (perfect hedges which work well in a coastal space is Griselinia or Tamarisk.
Improve and Stabalise the Soil
Often coastal soils drain quickly and lack the required nutrients to make plants thrive. Mulching your garden with organic mulch or compost is key, this adds so much benefit to your garden. Consider adding raised beds which 1. breaks the space (make then come into the garden and divide the space) 2. it means you have much more control of the conditions in which the plants grow. These can be raised with things like rusty corten steel or sleepers for that weathered coastal look.
Design with low planting in mind
If your garden is by the sea, we always recommend focusing on low planting, avoiding the winds and for any taller plants make sure these are positioned next to windbreaks or taller sheltered spaces.
We have some amazing coastal gardens we have designed, ranging from the classic coastal look to more modern and sculptural design, find them here.
If you want to find out more about coastal garden planting and everything you need to inspire you – Mark has written a book all about it which you can buy here.
