Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
"Mike Lyle" writes:
I know some couples who live on large boats in Kent; a few times
a
year the spring tides flood the gardens at their moorings. I
haven't
yet been involved long enough to be sure which plants can take it
in
the long term and which can't (except that I see half a dozen
cornus
alba caved in completely in a few months).

Has anybody got any experience or knowledge of this fascinating
garden problem?

It's worth taking a look at what grows in southern Cornwall - I am
pretty sure that the oaks around the Helford estuary, for example,
get soaked regularly. Not by flooding, but by a high tide being
driven by the wind. There are quite a lot of other places around
the country that have similar properties.

I am pretty sure that tamarisk can take it, but it likes sand.
And there are a lot of herbaceous plants that grow very close to
the tide marks.

Tamarisk (the later-flowering species: I couldn't get the earlier
one, though I planned to mix them) is taking it in its stride so far.
Curiously, so is a solitary licorice, which I included just for fun,
though it's hardly decorative.

Camomiles dotted in the lawn have failed; but as might be expected
the grass is flourishing, though only a bog-standard gc turf mixture.

Mike.