Hi!

I live in a seaside flat where we get gale-force winds. So far I've had great success with African Daisies (Osteospemums)...but that's about it. I have a outdoor balcony that is very exposed to the salty gale-force winds and would love to grow some red flowering or red foliaged plants that can withstand these conditions with a minimum of maintenance (asking a lot I know!). So if anyone has any suggestions that would be great!

Thanks,
Angela

On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 18:44:28 +0100, Angela
wrote:


Hi!

I live in a seaside flat where we get gale-force winds. So far I've
had great success with African Daisies (Osteospemums)...but that's
about it. I have a outdoor balcony that is very exposed to the salty
gale-force winds and would love to grow some red flowering or red
foliaged plants that can withstand these conditions with a minimum of
maintenance (asking a lot I know!). So if anyone has any suggestions
that would be great!

Thanks,
Angela

Because you mention Osteospermums, I take it that you're looking for
shrubby herbaceous plants that don't get too big. I also assume that
as you're near the sea, you probably don't get really hard frosts.

The following selection is taken from Christine Kelway's book 'Seaside
Gardening' (Collingridge 1962), and Miles and Rowe's book 'The New
Cornish Garden' (Truran 2003), but I don't have direct experience of
the majority of them (although also being a fan of reds, I may do in a
year or so!).

Arctotis (Zulu daisy), come in whites, yellows, oranges and reds.
Gazanias (no real reds, but some good pinks, and gorgeous burnt
oranges, as well as yellows and whites)
Thrift (Armeria; mostly pinks, but some quite good reds. A. maritima
Bloodstone sounds a good one!)
Fasicularia bicolor (a Bromeliad and related to pineapple. The foliage
reddens up prior to flowering, and the flowers, which appear deep in
the centre of the rosette of leaves, are a purplish blue. But the
leaves are sharp-toothed so beware)
Sedums, flower in the late summer and come in reds, pinks and creamy
whites. Some have red foliage.
Some carnations (Dianthus).
Shrubby mesembryanthemum, e.g. some of the Lampranthus types, rather
than the annual Livingstone Daisy type (I have a good red one that
will take a light frost; e-mail me if you want some cutting material).
Some of the shrubby salvias are suggested, and some salvias are
red-flowering, e.g. S. blepharophylla, S. fulgens and S. roemeriana,
but whether these are salt-wind proof I don't know. I've recently
bought the first, so I'll let you know!

Do a search on Google Images to see what they look like.
Mostly they like well-drained gritty soil; some prefer it alkaline.
Most of them won't take being frozen, and they all like plenty of sun.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net