Mike Lyle wrote in message
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Janet Baraclough.. wrote:
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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?

There's a salt marsh/golf course in the village that often gets
sea-flooded on spring tides. The following are robustly
naturalised;
gorse, wild broom, elymus (grass), various rushes, single rugosa
roses, wild briars, blackberries, scrub willow, montbretia, yellow
flag iris.

Picking and choosing among those, they could experiment with
better
garden forms such as double-flowered gorse, fancy brooms, the more
glamourous rugosas, crocosmias etc, more interesting rushes irises
and
grasses and decorative shrubby willows.

They might also try sea buckthorn, Californian poppies, and
asparagus.

Not to mention spinach beet! The native sea beet loves it there.
Thanks for valuable ideas: I hadn't considered crocosmias. I was
already wondering about willows to replace the failed cornus --
golden osiers are lovely in winter. (I nearly bred a red-stemmed
willow by accident back in Wales, where I grew a lot of golden
osiers, but it wouldn't stay red after the first few inches.) The
pinks seem to be surviving; though not in the most flooded section;
lavenders' performance is mixed: I theorize that grey leaves are a
good sign. I'll recommend eryngiums, of course, when I actually _see_
any for sale.

I know this is a pretty rare situation, but it's interesting, and
I'll report back at intervals. Meanwhile, any more ideas?

Mike.


Hi Mike,

How about Crambe maritima or C. cordifolia?
There is a native yellow-flowered Horned Poppy - sorry, don't know the
scientific name.
Erigerons, including E. karvinskianus.
Armeria maritima (Sea Thrift)
I have seen Polygonum (Japonica) cuspidata - Japanese Knotweed! - growing at
shoreline, so perhaps some of the more decorative and less invasive
Polyognum/Persicarias would be worth trying.
Isle of Wight coastal gardens (where I holiday) use hedges of Escallonia,
Griselinia (sp?), laurel, Cistus, Hardy Fuchsias, Hebe.

The good news about this type of site is *no slugs or snails*.

Spider