Flowers for a seaside garden

Armeria maritima

Armeria maritima
Among garden plants native to our coastline, perhaps the best-known and loved is thrift – Armeria maritima – a perfect choice for carpeting a bank or edging a border with evergreen foliage and bright pink, red or white flowers from May to July.

Limonium vulgare

Limonium vulgare
The flowers can be dried for autumn vases, as can those of the common sea-lavender – Limonium vulgare – which makes a wonderful show of colour on salt marshes around the coast in late summer. Easy-going red valerian – Centranthus – will grow in tiny crevices among rocks, while garden forms of the seaside aster – Erigeron glaucus – are mat-forming evergreen perennials with large daisy flowers throughout summer.

Osteospermum ecklonis

Osteospermum ecklonis
Low-growing plants are a wise choice for a windswept garden. One such – Osteospermum ecklonis – is a parent of many lovely perennial plants, with daisy blooms above low mats of foliage. I grow this on a low bank at the edge of my drive alongside Anthemis cupaniana, which makes a sprawling cushion of finely-cut silvery foliage topped in early summer by masses of daisies. Ornamental grasses will mostly thrive near the coast.

Salvia firecracker

Salvia firecracker
Choose shorter, more compact, varieties of half-hardy summer bedding plant, perhaps with Cineraria maritima Dwarf Silver for foliage effect among bright flowering plants such as scarlet Salvia Firecracker. The cineraria can be grown as a short-term perennial, making a shrubby plant to prune back in April. It is also good in containers.

Lavender santolina

Lavender santolina
Plants with tough silver and grey foliage are often good by the sea. There are the many good forms of eryngium, other than our native sea holly. The leaves of the pink family Dianthus shrug off salty water and look great, even when the plants are out of bloom. Both silver and green forms of the cotton lavender Santolina are good foliage plants and delight with their golden button summer blooms.

Rosmarinus officinalis

Rosmarinus officinalis
Rosemary is a wonderful shrub that comes in many varieties. The Latin name – Rosmarinus – means dew of the sea, in reference to the plant’s native habitat on the Mediterranean coast. Lavender, thyme, marjoram and fennel are other herbs happy near the coast.

Before choosing border plants I always advise strolling around the area to see what grows best in local gardens.