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Coastal Gardening
By Ginger Hogan
Special to the Coastal Point
The coastal environment presents some unique challenges for gardeners. Depending on location, a gardener may have to deal with soil that is pure sand, salt spray, periodic flooding, extreme winds or wetlands. Obviously, this is not the place for your typical suburban landscape.
So what’s a gardener to do? Take a cue from Mother Nature. She has engineered the perfect plants for each of these conditions. There are many attractive native plants that are beautifully adapted to the environmental niches that make up the coastal region. Careful observation of the plant life that already exists in a particular environment will give clues to what can not only survive, but also thrive, in that setting. So let’s take a look at some of the various problems that each area offers, and some plants that have adapted to overcome them.
The most extreme conditions are obviously found along the ocean front. Sun, salt, sand and wind each present their own challenge for the gardener. However, even here there is an array of plants that are happy in this tough environment. Beach plums, bayberries, and an assortment of native grasses, many of them quite ornamental, have all made the dunes their home. Some of the native switch grasses are widely planted, even in some gentler environments, simply for their attractive colors or forms. “Dewey Blue” is a striking steel blue cultivar named for the town where it was originally collected. “Cloud Nine” is an impressive 7-footer that is a great substitute for the potentially invasive Miscanthus.
At the other end of the spectrum of extreme conditions are the areas of wetlands that pocket the coastal zone. These conditions require plants with completely different adaptations, depending on the degree of flooding the site receives. Some of our showiest native plants are adapted to the wetlands. Chokeberries, viburnums, sweet pepperbush, and blueberries can all be found rubbing shoulders in local wetlands, creating a riot of color in the fall with their brilliant foliage and showy berries. Another notable fall wetland plant is the grounsel bush, Bacharis halimifolia, which is covered each autumn in cottony white blooms about the same time that the others are putting on their fiery display. And the wetlands are also home to the beautiful swamp hibiscus, which can be seen blooming in later summer along the Seashore State Park.
Regardless of location, the coastal region is exposed to some pretty severe winds on a frequent basis, as anyone who ever planted a Bradford pear has learned to their regret. These coastal gales have wreaked havoc on what was once America’s favorite ornamental tree. Fortunately, there are some lovely native trees that are great substitutes for that meteorologically-challenged tree.
Fringetree, Chionanthus virginicus, is a small tree with a spreading habit that is covered in fragrant white blooms in late spring. Serviceberry, Amelanchier canadensis, also produces white flowers in the spring and showy orange-red foliage in the fall.
Like wind, salt spray is a fact of life for anyone within miles of the ocean or inland bays. Our occasional “dry” hurricanes or nor’easters have caused salt damage on plants as far west as Seaford. Fortunately, Mother Nature even provided for that. Some natives that show remarkable salt tolerance are American holly, Ilex opaca, the Delaware state tree; arrowood viburnum Viburnum dentatum, which produces white flowers in spring and clusters of bright blue berries in fall; and Virginia sweetspire, with its fragrant white flowers in summer and flaming red fall foliage.
Gardening on the coast, like living on the coast, has its rewards as well as challenges. If we trust in Mother Nature and follow her lead, those rewards can be realized.
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