GARDENING: How to create a coastal garden in Mayo

We are blessed to have a most scenic and beautiful coastline here in county Mayo, which means there are many who have a garden by the sea and are battling with the strong sea wind.
Well-known British gardener and writer, the late Christopher Lloyd once said that one often has to choose between having a view of the sea or having a garden – and many would agree it’s difficult to have both.
But my concept of coastal gardens changed when I visited filmmaker, painter, gardener, writer and activist Derek Jarman’s former home, Prospect Cottage, on the windswept coast of Kent in the UK. It was so different from any other garden I visited, a marvellous, windswept, original and unique garden on the shingles. The only bit of bleakness comes the nuclear power station that stands eerily in the background.
The black-tarred cottage with its bright-yellow window-pane and door-pane frames stood strikingly under the English grey sky. The garden was covered with pebbles and stones, with salvaged drift woods from nearby beach standing like the sculptures. It was also dotted with wild plants and some perennials that can easily adapt to this particular environment. These include bright pink and white valerian (you often can see them growing on the wall of car park or roadside); the white balloon-like flowers of silene; succulent seakalel; swathes of lavender; clumps of red-hot pokers, santolinas and helichrysums; and sprays of yellow Rosa xanthina Canary Bird (an old shrub rose) and vivid-orange Californian poppies.
There is no fence or gate, as the cottage is on a protected nature reserve. Of the site, Jarman wrote, “My garden’s boundaries are the horizon.” It was almost like a theatrical, poetic art piece, without pretension. And no windbreak trees or bushes! It was like some kind of magic was occurring, allowing the to garden thrive.

Opportunities
Since then, I think about the challenging environment of gardens more like opportunities. Opportunities to think outside of the box, to select the plants that will thrive in or tolerate the challenges of each environment. In the case of coastal gardens these challenges include salt spray, strong wind and (from time to time) strong sun and dry spells.
I have praised Jarman’s artistic garden, but of course if you like to have some shelter and create a wind-free sitting area or grow the plants that need some shelter, that is possible with careful planning and choice of plants as well.
Choose plants that look good in the wind too. All types of grasses look beautiful in the gentle breeze. Try dotting the area with more-robust plants like eryngium, rosemary and ornamental fennel.
Look around and note the seaside vegetation when you are walking on the beach or margin of the coastline – and even look into other people’s seaside gardens. You learn a lot!

Good choices
Here are a few suggestions for what to grow to get you started.
When it comes to trees that tolerate salty winds, think oak, pine, hornbeam, hawthorn, alder and elder. Suitable shrubs include blackthorn, rosa rugosa (the fagrant variety, Roseraie de L’Hay is so gorgeous), olearia, tamarix tetrandra (beautiful tussles of pink flowers), hydrangeas (lace-cup varieties are very sturdy), sea buckthorn, olearia lacunosa (a stunning rosemary-like tree that’s easy to take cuttings from), bupleurum fruticosum, berberis, pyracantha, cordyline, cistus and fusha.
When choosing perennials, there are plenty of sun-loving little tender plants which can somehow survive winter by the seaside. Try eryngium, with their beautiful blue-grey stems and striking blue thistle-like flowers; armeria maritima – sea thrift is our native here, with pretty pink pom-pom flowers (great ground cover); and kniphofia, or red-hot pokers – there are more interesting colours available, like the coral-coloured ‘Mango Popsicle’). Other recommendations include iris hookeri (dwarf iris), valerian, silene uniflora (sea campion), seakale, lavender, libertia, sedum and all types of grasses.
When it comes to annuals, I’d go for Californian poppy, calendula (English marigold), cosmos, snapdragon and nasturtium.

September/October jobs in the garden
•  Collect seeds for next year on a dry day
•  Sow biennial plants (forget-me-not, foxgloves) and some annuals for early flower (cornflower, sweetpeas) under cover
•  Order spring-flowering bulbs (bluebells, hyacinths, narcissuses, tulips, crocuses, etc) and start planting them
•  Take cuttings
•  Plant garlic and onions
•  Sow daikon radish and sprouting broccolis for a winter crop
•  Keep harvesting tomatoes, beans, courgettes and sweet peas

Eriko Uehara Hopkinson is a member of the Clew Bay Garden Trail. A chain of beautiful and unique private gardens, the trail opens to the public during summer to raise funds for charity (see www.clewbaygardentrail.ie for more). Each month, an article by a trail member will appear in these pages.