Start with the wind, not the plants

If your garden looks out to sea, or simply sits within a mile or two of the British coast, you already know that wind is the chief gardener on site. Coastal wind arrives loaded with salt crystals that scorch leaf edges, blacken evergreens and dry out buds before they open. It also carries grit that abrades soft foliage, and it does all of this while the soil beneath is often thin, free-draining and hungry. The plants that suffer most are usually the ones we love best — roses, acers, Japanese maples, tender perennials and anything with large, thin leaves.

The answer is not to fight the wind with a solid wall. It is to plant a living windbreak: a layered belt of tough, salt-proof shrubs and small trees that filters the airflow and creates a calm pocket behind it. Get that structure right and you can grow a far wider range of plants than you ever thought possible.

Read your exposure before you dig

Spend a fortnight watching where the wind hits hardest. On most of the British coast the prevailing direction is south-westerly, but local funnelling through gaps between buildings, headlands and hedges can change everything. Note where leaves brown off first, where plants lean away from, and where the ground dries out fastest.

Then check your soil. Coastal ground is often sandy, stony or thin over rock, and it can be alkaline where shell fragments and chalk dominate, or acidic over granite and slate in the west. Most of the plants below cope with either, provided drainage is sharp, but it helps to know what you are working with before you choose.

A useful rule of thumb: a permeable windbreak shelters the ground for roughly ten to fifteen times its own height downwind. A three-metre hedge therefore protects a band of thirty to forty-five metres. Solid fences and walls are a poor substitute — they force the wind up and over, then dump it back down as damaging turbulence on the other side.

Build shelter in layers

Nature rarely builds a shelterbelt from a single species, and neither should you. Aim for two tiers. The outer line takes the full brunt: low, dense, wind-firm evergreens that can be allowed to grow a little ragged without complaint. Behind them, plant taller shrubs and small trees to add height and lift the wind clear of the garden. Only then, once this framework is established, fill the sheltered zone with your more delicate planting.

Resist the temptation to plant the exciting things first. They will fail, and you will lose heart.

Shrubs that shrug off salt spray

• Griselinia littoralis — glossy, apple-green leaves and a dense, upright habit. Clips beautifully and is one of the best evergreens for exposed coastal hedges.
• Escallonia — try Escallonia macrantha or 'Apple Blossom' for pink or white summer flowers on a quick-growing, wind-resistant bush.
• Olearia × haastii — the daisy bush, with grey-green foliage and white autumn flowers. Very tolerant of salt.
• Elaeagnus pungens 'Maculata' — golden-splashed evergreen that lifts a dull winter border and takes real punishment.
• Hippophae rhamnoides — native sea buckthorn, silvery and nitrogen-fixing, with orange berries in autumn. It suckers freely, so give it room.
• Rosa rugosa — fragrant, repeat-flowering and full of hips, with thorny stems that make it an excellent barrier plant.
• Brachyglottis 'Sunshine' — silvery leaves and yellow daisies, provided the drainage is sharp.
• Hebe — whipcord types and Hebe salicifolia both cope well, flowering late for the bees.
• Euonymus japonicus — plain or variegated forms make a reliable, neat evergreen screen.
• Ulex europaeus — native gorse for the roughest, poorest, most exposed corner of all.

Small trees for height and backbone

• Quercus ilex — holm oak, evergreen and deeply salt-tolerant, eventually forming a wind-sculpted canopy.
• Crataegus monogyna — native hawthorn. Thorny, fast and superb for wildlife.
• Sorbus aria — whitebeam, with silver-backed leaves that handle wind and chalk with equal grace.
• Alnus cordata — Italian alder grows quickly, roots deeply and fixes nitrogen, ideal on poor coastal ground.
• Tamarix ramosissima — feathery foliage and a haze of pink flowers in late summer, made for seaside gardens.
• Pinus nigra subsp. laricio — Corsican pine for a dark, sheltering backdrop. Plant small and protect the young stems.

Planting, spacing and the first three years

Plant bare-root and rootballed stock between October and March, avoiding frozen or waterlogged spells. Dig a hole twice the width of the rootball and mix in plenty of garden compost or well-rotted manure with a handful of seaweed meal. Set the plant at the same depth it was growing before, firm it in gently, and mulch five to eight centimetres deep, keeping the material clear of the stem.

Space hedging plants about sixty to ninety centimetres apart, and small trees three to four metres apart so they can develop without competition. Stake trees for their first two or three years using a flexible tie that allows the trunk to move a little; movement builds strength. Water thoroughly through the first two summers, even the drought-tolerant species.

Feed lightly with a seaweed-based product in spring, but avoid anything high in nitrogen, which produces soft growth the wind will shred. Trim hedges and shrubs lightly after flowering, and never cut hard into old wood on griselinia or escallonia, as they rarely reshoot from it. Guard young stems against rabbits and deer, and be prepared to replace an occasional loss in the first winter.

Give it three to five years. Once that outer line knits together, you will feel the difference the moment you step through the gate — and you will wonder why you waited so long to plant it.