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Grow Some
Seaside Wildflowers
Published in
Organic Gardening Magazine - March 2009
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Most gardeners, even those who
are not naturally inclined towards gardening in an environmentally
friendly way, now appreciate that cultivating a few wildflowers can bring
huge benefits to the wildlife in and around our gardens. Amongst the
large number of wildflowers now available in garden centres and nurseries,
foxgloves, scabious, primroses, poppies and knapweed are voted as the
nation’s favourites, but the British flora provides us with a huge
selection of wonderful flowers that can enhance any garden, providing we
chose those that are happy in our conditions. Even I tend to grow my
particular favourites (I like to fill my garden with field scabious and
meadow cranesbill in particular) and sometimes ignore the less obvious
candidates, but my eyes were opened while visiting the South Coast some
years ago. A gentle stroll along a sea front promenade took me past a
small garden with a ‘meadow’ of seaside flowers – thrift and sea campion
interspersed with birdsfoot trefoil and wild thyme. The garden itself was
not that appealing but the flowers were extraordinary and started me
thinking about where I could grow these beautiful plants in my own garden.
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Our native seaside plants are
varied and versatile. They may grow on cliff tops, sand dunes or even on
the beach itself and some will only grow in rather extreme conditions.
Saltmarshes – those bleak and desolate areas of mud flats dissected by tidal
creeks – do have their own special flora, much of it very attractive in late
spring and early summer. Some species such as sea lavender and sea aster
will only thrive in areas that are intermittently very wet, and they also
need a high level of salt in the water around them. In the wild they have
adapted brilliantly to conditions where many plants would perish but these
true specialists would struggle in the average garden border. But there are
other seaside treasures that can fit beautifully into garden situations and
may be just right for that difficult spot where few other things will
thrive. So what conditions do seaside species need?
Surprisingly, unlike the sea aster and lavender already mentioned, most of
the prettiest seaside wildflowers do not need the damp, salty conditions you
might expect. Many, including thrift, sea campion, yellow stonecrop and
wild thyme are often found together with wild carrot on cliff tops. These
species are able to cling on in tiny pockets of soil in rock crevices. where
the soil is sparse and well drained. Cliffs are an example of a pretty
extreme habitat so you would expect these plants to be hardy and able to
cope with difficult situations in the garden and indeed this is the case. I
grow some of these plants on the south facing roof of my log store where
they happily resist a range of conditions in my garden in the South
Shropshire Hills, including fierce westerly winds, plenty of rain and the
occasional sun baked drought interlude!
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Sedum,
sea campion and thrift in a gravel bed |
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Make a small wildflower scree
garden So it
is worth thinking creatively about our seaside species and if you like the
idea of bringing a little bit of the coast to your garden you may want to
make a special area for them. One attractive idea would be to create a
small scree garden, preferably in a south facing border, and combine
seaside plants with other wildflowers of well drained habitats – harebell,
pasque flower, small scabious, rock rose and quaking grass for example.
These plants prefer short grassland above chalk or limestone soils,and mix
well with thrift and thyme, creating a wonderful blend of colours and
flower types. Start your scree garden in an area of bare weed-free soil
and prepare the soil for planting in the usual way. These wildflower
species will require no fertiliser in the soil but you may want to add
grit or small gravel to make sure the drainage is good. These plants in
the wild tend to grow mingled randomly together rather than in swathes of
one species, but mix and match them as you like. |
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Making a
seaside scree garden on a roof |
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Once I have
planted my wildflowers I always mulch an area such as this with fine pea
grit to continue the seaside theme, and add some flat stones for
interest. If you don’t have space in your garden for a scree area such as
this, you could create a seaside container using suitable small plants.
After planting mulch the surface of the container with pea grit and make
sure you keep the plants tidy throughout the summer to prevent them taking
over the small space. You could also grow some of these plants on the
roof of a small garden shed or store as long as the pitch is not too
great. You would need to make a planting bed at least 8 to 10 cms depth
by creating a wooden edge around the roof to contain a mixture of light
soil and grit, plus you would need to make sure the soil could drain
freely. All the plants recommended would cope with the varying conditions
that occur on roof tops and could create an extra wildlife habitat for
your garden as well as look wonderful! |
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Growing wildflowers of any
kind will benefit the wildlife in your garden, as they not only provide
nectar and pollen for a range of insects, but also support the life cycle
of many invertebrates. Thyme will encourage small tortoiseshell
butterflies, sea campion is visited by moths at dusk, sea holly is a great
bee plant, bird’s foot trefoil is the food plant of the common blue
butterfly and thrift attracts masses of tiny black pollen beetles.
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Four
easy seaside plants
Sea campion Silene uniflora
This seaside relative
of the better known red campion (which grows in hedgerows everywhere), is a
great little plant for containers, scree gardens or living roofs. The waxy,
jade-green foliage makes a neat mound and in spring and summer is covered
with tumbling white bells which are large for the size of the plant. There
is a double flowered variety called Robin Whitebrest with larger flowers.
Sea campion – like all campions - is simple to grow from seed sown in the
spring. It is not too fussy about the conditions it likes and is robust and
easy to grow and flowers over a long period. |
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Thrift Armeria maritima
Thrift was commonly
grown in the past as an edging plant for more formal garden arrangements.
Its tufty leaves and pink (or sometimes white) flowers are familiar to
anyone who loves the coast – the plants grow on cliffs and in salt marshes.
It also rather strangely grows inland in some upland locations. Thrift
(also called sea pink) can be found in the alpine section of any garden
centre or is relatively easy to grow from fresh seed in the spring. The
plants can also be divided after flowering in late spring. |
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Bird’s Foot Trefoil Lotus
corniculatus
Everyone knows this leguminous species as it thrives in many situations, not
just maritime ones. The yellow flowers appear in May and will continue to
flower, on and off, through the summer. This creeping plant is ideal for a
living roof and in containers as it can survive all sorts of neglect while
still attracting a wide range of insects, including the common blue
butterfly. Rub the seeds between two pieces of sandpaper before sowing for
better germination. |
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Wild Thyme Thymus polytrichus
This familiar plant
can be grown in several locations in the garden as long as it is in a hot
and sunny position – a south facing roof top is ideal. There are several
native wild thymes but this creeping species is the best for a project such
as this. Don’t expect to harvest too much for the pot, but you will be
rewarded with rose pink flowers in early summer which will be covered with
bees and butterflies. |
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Other seaside plants to try –
alexanders, sea holly, centaury, sand crocus, yellow horned poppy, wild
pansy, sea pea, sedum, wild carrot and restharrow. |
© Text and
photographs Jenny Steel 2010
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