Last updated 19:44, Thursday, 17 July 2008

IT SEEMS that every garden has its problems and every gardener their own cross to bear.

My own pet hates are the cats messing in my flower beds, and the sticky willie or cleavers that grows through our leylandii hedge and give me a nasty rash just thinking about them.

My editor, on the other hand, struggles to garden on the Solway coast, asking me for ideas on how to find plants that can withstand the howling wind and sea salt.

I imagine he is not alone; though coastal gardens have the advantage of being slightly warmer than those inland (the sea has a warming effect and frost is unusual) they can be hostile places for plants.

My sister suffered the same dilemma although, since she lives on the North East coast, her salt-laden winds are also bitingly cold.

We solved the problem of what to grow in her garden by pounding the streets of Whitley Bay, looking at what was doing well in her neighbours’ gardens.

We found the usual ‘tough guys’ that all the gardening books recommend for seaside gardens – hedges of Grisellinia littoralis and Escallonia, hydrangeas and montbretias, shasta daisies and Lysimachia - but we also found a surprisingly large number of other plants, not just surviving but flourishing in the rough conditions.

The shrubs included Japanese quince (Chaenomeles japonica) Elaeagnus, various hebes, purple-leaved Berberis thunbergii atropurpurea, variegated hollies, fuchsias, Ceanothus, potentillas, the smoke bush Cotinus coggygria, buddleias, cotoneaster and even a fair sized Rhododendron.

Trees were obviously finding the going tough, but we did see beech, rowan, cherries, sycamore and sumach. For conifers, the combination of wind and salt is almost impossible, only Scot’s pine and Corsican pines will grow in such exposed conditions, often sculpted by the wind into bizarre, leaning shapes.

The range of herbaceous plants we found was quite impressive – Bergenia, Alchemilla, catmint, Dicentra, Japanese anemones, drifts of Helleborus argutifolius, euphorbias, fennel and asters.

There were also some elegant pots of lilies and hostas, without slugs (they don’t like the salt either!) together with masses of annuals and biennials.

Grasses, including Festuca glauca, Stipa gigantea, Pennisetum and Miscanthus, grow particularly well on the coast.

My sister has planted a lot in her front garden, together with sea pinks (Armeria maritima), Agapanthus, New Zealand flax and sea holly (Eryngium bourgatii).

Interestingly, once a nucleus of plants had become established, it then became easier to establish others; I presume that together they make some sort of microclimate, protecting each other from cold, salty winds.

It is also worth noting that acclimatised plants from local nurseries and plant sales did better than those from elsewhere in the UK or abroad.

Now that bedding and half-hardy perennials are planted out, this could be a good time to clean out the greenhouse and cold frames.

Summer prune plums and cherries, shortening shoots by about one third. On large trees, spread the pruning over a few weeks so that the trees don’t suffer a check in growth.

Clear around the base of trees and shrubs planted in grass, leaving a generous circle free of grass and weeds around the base. This will reduce competition for water and nutrients.