Coastal garden plants that stand up to the sea.
A seaside garden faces salt-laden wind and fast-draining, sandy soil – but the plants that cope are some of the most striking there are, all silver leaves, sea-blues and airy movement. The best coastal garden plants turn an exposed spot into a beautiful, breezy border.
First design free · no card needed · UK plants
After
BeforeDesigning a garden by the sea
The challenges of a coastal garden are wind, salt and sharp-draining sandy soil – but the plants that evolved for the shore turn all three into a virtue. Silver and waxy leaves shrug off salt, flexible grasses and airy perennials bend with the wind instead of breaking, and deep roots cope with fast drainage.
A little shelter transforms what you can grow: a tough evergreen hedge or a windbreak on the seaward side creates a calmer pocket behind it where a wider range thrives. Work with the exposure and a coastal garden becomes wonderfully atmospheric.
Plants for a coastal garden
Your planting plan lists them in full, with how many to buy and where each goes – so the garden in the picture is one you can actually plant.
Sea holly
the signature coastal plant – steely-blue and salt-proof
Ornamental grasses
sway with the wind rather than snapping in it
Rugosa roses
tough shrub roses that shrug off salt spray
Lavender
silver, scented and happy in sandy, free-draining soil
Red-hot pokers
bold spires that stand up to coastal wind
Sea kale
sculptural blue-grey leaves built for the shore
Catmint
a low, wind-tolerant haze of blue
Escallonia
a glossy evergreen shrub that makes a fine seaside hedge
Armeria (thrift)
cushions of pink flower straight off the clifftop
Phormium
architectural strappy leaves that relish coastal exposure
See a coastal border on your own garden
Upload a photo of your seaside garden and get it back designed with real, salt- and wind-tolerant plants – a photorealistic picture that suits the exposure, keeping your structure as it is.
When you love it, the planting plan names every plant, how many to buy and where each goes. Your first design is free, so you can see it before spending anything.
Good to know.
Everything people ask about coastal garden planting.
How does the AI garden design work?
Upload a photo of your garden or a single border, and tell us what you'd like: refresh your borders, keeping your garden's shape, or redesign the whole space with new layout, paths and planting. Pick a style, and we generate a photorealistic redesign of your actual garden. When you love one, unlock its planting plan – every plant, how many to buy, and where each goes.
Are the plants real – can I actually buy and plant them?
Yes. Every design can become a planting plan of real, available UK plants, with quantities, each plant's mature height and spread, where it goes and a month-by-month flowering guide. The plans are built on real horticultural data and shaped by a professional gardener – not generic AI guesses – so the garden in the picture is a garden you can genuinely plant.
Is the first design really free, and what does it cost after?
Your first design is genuinely free, with no card required. After that, subscriptions start at £19 a month. The professional planting plan is a separate one-off you only buy if you want to make a design real.
What plants survive salt wind?
Sea holly, rugosa roses, ornamental grasses, escallonia and phormium are all notably salt- and wind-tolerant. Creating some shelter with a tough evergreen hedge on the seaward side widens the range of what you can grow behind it.
More planting guides.
Your garden is one photo away.
See it redesigned in about two minutes. The first one's on us.