Herbs Coastal Landscapes / Planting Design
Planting Design
Coastal-tolerant palettes chosen for the aspect, the soil and how they age.
What it involves
Coastal sand holds almost no water and very little nutrient. Soil improvement comes before plant selection, because without it even hardy species sit still for years and the garden never fills in.
Aspect, salt exposure and shade vary across a single property. Zoning the planting is what keeps a garden looking full, hardy structural species take the exposed edges, and the softer, greener material sits in the lee of the house where it will actually thrive.
Plants are selected at mature size, not at nursery size. A scheme planted for how it looks on handover day is a scheme that outgrows itself within a few seasons and starts costing money to keep in check.
We just had Herbs Coastal Landscapers remove all of our limestone and replace it with mulch throughout the garden. The transformation is amazing! The garden now looks neat, fresh, and much more appealing …
Rita Ward · Google review
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Commonquestions.
The questions that come up around plant selection.
How much maintenance will the garden need?
That is largely decided at design stage. Planting suited to the aspect and soil, spaced for its mature size and properly mulched needs a fraction of the attention of a scheme that was chosen on looks alone.
Can we have a lawn?
Yes, with the right variety and honest expectations about water. On sand the soil beneath it has to be built up before it is laid, otherwise it thins out every summer regardless of how much you water.
How long until it looks established?
Most schemes read as full somewhere between one and three growing seasons, depending on species and how much semi-mature stock is used. Planting larger costs more up front and buys time, but it is not a substitute for soil preparation.
Will natives look scrappy?
Not when they are chosen and placed well. Poor native gardens are usually a spacing and pruning problem rather than a plant problem. Mixed with structural and Mediterranean species they hold shape and cope with the conditions.
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