Grow Your Own Magazine

The new garden I'm getting when we move to Kinghorn soon is literally on a cliff over looking the Firth of Forth / Sea and there is a low wall at the end of the garden. Past the wall is a bit of ground full of weeds as far as I can remember and we've been wondering what kind of shrubs or evergreens would be suitable to plant there to add a bit of colour and protection...what would cope with that kind of aspect?

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Sea Buckthorn - vicious spines berries hi in Vit C. I guess the good old Laurel - bit boring though. really you'll want lowish growing ones I guess if it's really windy otherwise they'll take ages to establish. Lavender would be OK especially if you built a low wall and plant up in the wall ( sort of thin raised bed ) then you could have a load of alpines in there as well.

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Sea Buckthorn - is that the one with the really bright orange berries? I love that stuff! brilliant tip - thanks for that. I will order some when I have the time.

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Didn't Ground Force do up a garden next to a cliff face?
I seem to recall seeing Mr T pointing out various wild plants he wanted to incorporate into the garden.
Goodness knows what he suggested though! ...sorry!

I live 2 streets away from the sea front in Morecambe, and my rose bushes do well every year as does my rosemary which is an evergreen herb.
The picture below was taken today.



Cheers Chris

Maybe not quite what you're looking for but perhaps an opportunity to see how seakale and seabeet would grow for you?

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http://thankyouforthedays.blogspot.com/

In the woods there grew a tree
And a fine fine tree was he

Strangely enough I was sowing some stuff in the greenhouse and the very same question came up on Gardeners Question Time. They suggested .... Sea Buckthorn ... see I'm an expert now . and also they suggested planting stuff like Thrift in the top ... do you think that flowerdew chap looks on here

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Oh yes, isn't his user name Nick the Grief?

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated November 30th - Mr Stinky's Excellent Adventure (and a Christmas Cake)

ha ha the secret's out!

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crichmond - I like your little fence - is that a metal fence that you've intertwined with hazel? We're looking to install a very low metal railing of some sort to grow a climbing plant through and then to plant a shrub on the cliff side - probably see buckthorn now - for extra protection.

I can't wait to move in and start work on the garden. I thought the DIY/Gardening was all over as we've been working on our current flat for the past year and the garden for the past three and now when we move it's going to start all over again...the kitchen and bathroom need completely gutting and re-doing and the garden definitely needs and Eskymo Makeover.

It's going to be hard work.

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hi eskymo

Yes it is a metel frame with hazel through it, but I bought it from focus diy if I remember right it was about £7 per panel.

Hi Eskymo,

Jennie Atkinson would be the expert here - I'm sure Fushia magellanica/um has come up in similar discussions. We have an ornamental quince which stands up really well to strong winds too.

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Dwell simply ~ love richly

I wish I had his money and polytunnels Not keen on ponytails though ( not at my age - looks better covering a horses arse)

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

Hi Eskyimo,

I used to live 400ft up facing the Bristol Channel and wouldn't say that I had to contend with a sea breeze more of a full scale blast

The first thing is to establish a wind break by means of some type of hedging with wind break netting to allow it to establish. Ever green Privet or Leylandii macrocarpia, the golden one, will do. For every foot of height you will get 8foot of protection which will allow you to estimate the height of hedge you need. Once you have some shelter things that did well all had smallish leaves, some were silvery like Senico laxifolius.

The best thing is to take note of what is growing in other peoples gardens and in the public parks and that will give you a good idea of what to try.

There is a book called Seaside Gardening but I can't remember the author and I gave my copy away when I moved to somewhere more sensible.

Best of luck but you will have to be very patient.

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Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

I'm thinking for getting 5 or 6 of these sea buckthorn shrubs as I've seen them growing somewhere further up the coast from where we're going to be so I reckon they'd be able to put up with the sea breeze/blast. Along with that we're going to put a low fence up as well. I don't want anything too tall as I don't want to obscure the view

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Most hebes will tolerate sea breezes and they can be kept low growing too.

How about this one I've dragged up from the old memory bank? Elaeagnus ebbingii is an evergreen and is often used on 'Links' golf courses so must be salt tolerent!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

I have just moved from a clifftop, though admittedly darn sarf rather than up north so the breezes may have reached gale force by the time they reach you. Growing on the cliff - right on the edge - were mallows, thrift and gorse. In my garden the 3 inch bit of rosemary that I planted in a moment of optimism when I first moved in grew to an ENORMOUS size and flourished happily - as did other rosemaries all down the road. Other than that the bottle brush plant (don't know its proper name) did very well, as did various grasses, but I can't bear grasses personally so I'm afraid I rather ignored those!

Failing that, how about some Jerusalem artichokes ??!!

I am actually 2 miles from the sea, BUT ............ the wind is always salt-laden given that it blows from the south where the sea is and at tremendous speeds.

My fuschia magenellica does very well as does rosa rugosa. Some perennials do awfully well too - I have a lovely pink ragged cornflower that is very pretty and does well, although it does flop a bit (I could always send you a root Eskymo). It would spread quite well. Red hot pokers and montbretia also manage very well without any help.

I have no luck with evergreens - my only little bit of variegated holly which survived the winter has now been eaten by the starlings (b*****s!).

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Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn't know that so it goes on flying anyway.
~ Mary Kay Ash