See 'Shrub List'  for prices & pot size

For an individual quote and availability please   phone    01271 815 269  or my   mobile   07788 767 154

Escallonia  Macrantha; The Best one for a hedge on the beach, large bottle green leaves and rose coloured flowers in June. Ideal for an evergreen hedge. 8 feet max.

Escallonia Crimson Spire; not as tall as Macrantha But a hardier plant with smaller leaves for more inland areas. This plant will withstand minus seven degrees of frost. Bright crimson flowers.

Escallonia Apple Blossom; slow growing very attractive pink and white flowers.

Escallonia  Iveyi; dark green foliage with white Autumn flowers.

Escallonia  Gold Ellen; bright yellow foliage and cerise flowers all Summer, outstanding.

Eucalyptus gunnii; an evergreen fast growing tree (faster than Leylandii !) and like Escallonia this plant can be cut back hard in the Spring and will shoot out with many new branches, whatever the age of the plant.

Lavender Munsted Dwarf; scented with dark lavender blue flowers in June/July, can form a low hedge ( 45cm approx ). Evergreen. Cut back the flowers after flowering.

Pittosporum tenuifolium; a large shrub or small tree, evergreen and scented in April and can be cut hard in to any shape, it is fast growing making a good hedge.

Palm trees Cordyline Australis;  will grow right on the beach in the teeth of the gales, some times sold as Torbay Palm. As the leaves die off at the base so it forms a tree trunk and will get to a height of 3-4 m.

Trachycarpus fortunei;  This is a classic hardy palm tree with large hand shaped leaves and a fury trunk, its only fault is that  it is slow growing so the sooner you plant one the better. £6 to £45.00 each depending on pot size.

Bay tree; apart from its culinary uses, this is a very tough plant and will grow any where.

Armeria maritime;  a small rockery plant with pink 12cm high flowers another one for the seaside garden.

Aubretia; Just inland from the sea and you can grow this low growing ground cover evergreen plant that flowers well in the spring months (March, April and May), available in blue, purple or red and at £1.20 each or £1.00 each for ten or more this is a real bargain.

Azalea luteum; This plant with its yellow scented flowers in April and May will grow just back from the sea, as the worst of the gales are blowing in January it has no leaves to scorch.

Ceratostigma  willmottianum; a great little deciduous plant, it can be cut down hard every winter and will shoot up with blue flowers in late Summer.

Hebe Blue Gem; Hebes will all grow by the sea but blue gem is the toughest of all and can cope with the windy and sometimes dry conditions.

Common Gorse - Ulex europaeus; Now here is a real vandal proof tough plant to grow by the sea which can take over if you let it.

Hardy Fuchsias; Most will grow by the sea, we offer three varieties, see Shrub list.

Hydrangeas; all will grow well by the sea as they are mostly deciduous.

Olearia macrodonta- Sea Holly; a good alternative to Escallonia as a hedging evergreen plant on the coast.

Olearia traversii; will only grow on the beach and is a real marine plant. It cannot cope with any frost and will die inland due to the cold.

Pampas Grass Sunningdale Silver; as the name suggests this is a grass and will grow almost anywhere. Well worth growing with its stunning Autumn plumes in September, it can be cut back hard in December.

Dwarf Pampas Grass; grows only 45cm high with plumes of 65 - 80cm, this one is easy to keep under control.

Callistemon;  Bottle brush plant. Here is another deceptively hardy evergreen shrub which will grow in poor dry soil by the sea that is not to say it does not thrive in deep rich loam inland, as with most plants it dose not want to stand in water all day. See picture at the top of this page. The yellow is Robinia 'frisia' plus the blue sky makes a great garden! 

Phormium tenax; New Zealand Flax - evergreen with long leaves and even taller flowers 1.5 - 2m tall.

Phormium tenax Purpureum; smaller than Phormium tanex with reddish leaves 1m tall.

Santoliner incana; Cotton lavender, this is a tough plant which spreads and can be cut hard it is 45cm tall by 1m across, yellow flowers in Summer and will cope with drought.

Grizalina littoralis; hedging plant as an alternative to Escallonia for coastal areas it is evergreen and can be trimmed it likes a good soil, so feed once a year.

Of course there are other plants that will grow by the sea, not least herbaceous which die down in winter missing the winter gales, but these are the ones I am offering as worthy of a space in your garden. Yes, a particular plant might well grow by the sea but if the flowers are poor and the foliage is dull what's the point?

This picture shows the bottle brush plant,  on the list as Callistemon speciosus Flowering mid Summer