Grow Your Own Delicious Vegetables, Fruits, And Herbs

Beach covers

FORTUNATELY FOR THOSE AT THE SEASHORE, a good number of ground-cover plants work nicely in this environment. Try some of the following plants if your garden gets beach winds and salt sprays:

Cape weed

I use cape weed (Arctotheca calendula) in a really hot, dry side area where nothing else wants to tolerate the living conditions. The only problem is it keeps trying to escape into an area with soil less like hardened concrete. It's aggressive enough to require vigilance, but then, that's exactly what you may need. Cape weed can grow to about 20 centimeters tall, but will hug the ground in dry situations. It can tolerate temperatures as low as —4° C and is quite useful on neglected slopes and for erosion control. If you plant it in any form of shade, it will grow with great determination towards sunlight. Cape weed's flowers

Hottentot fig

Hottentot figs (Ccupobrotus edulis) have thick leaves, and each stem can reach 2 meters long. In some hot, dry areas of America it is called "freeway ice plant". It helps stabilize beach sand, and tolerates coastal soil spray and some soil salt. The large flowers are yellow and pink. Hottentot figs tolerate temperatures as low as —4° C.

Hottentot fig does have its advantages, but I don't recommend it for ordinarti garden use because it has a bulky appearance and spreads rapid/q. lnitiallrj lqiny flat, it may mound gradually as long stems pile on top of one another.

Sage-leaf rock rose

There are many types of rock rose, all originating on dry, stony soil in warm climates. They are grown in parks as well as gardens, and if watered occasionally and given full sun, they'll reward you with lovely spring flowers in white, light pink, or rose pink.

More beach covers:

• Bergenia (Bergenia)                                            • Lilyturf (Liriope)

• Blue fescue (Festuca ovina glauca)                  • Mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus)

• Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster)                              •    Creeping coprosma (Coprosma)                • Shrub verbena (Lantana)

• Dwarf rosemary                                                   • Snow-in-summer

(Rosmarinus officinalis) (Cerastium tomentosum)

• Gold dust (Aurinia scocatalis)                         • Stonecrop (Sedum)

•             Heather (Calluna vulgaris)                    • Sun rose (Helianthemum)

•             Lavender cotton                                     • Trailing African daisy

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