{"id":39257,"date":"2024-08-14T15:20:39","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T13:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/412d253f-4677-4c06-b313-f75262ddb71c"},"modified":"2024-08-14T15:31:25","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T13:31:25","slug":"beachside-brilliance-a-chic-contemporary-designer-garden-on-the-shore-with-top-coastal-plants-recommendations","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/rss_feed\/beachside-brilliance-a-chic-contemporary-designer-garden-on-the-shore-with-top-coastal-plants-recommendations\/","title":{"rendered":"Beachside brilliance: a chic, contemporary designer garden on the shore with top coastal plants recommendations"},"content":{"rendered":"

For this contemporary house on the Kent coast, designer Declan Buckley has created a dramatic, high-impact garden with the carefree feel of the beach. Words Natasha Goodfellow photographs Clive Nichols <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 14 August 2024 at 13:20 PM<\/p>

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The British seaside has many associations. Fish \u2019n\u2019 chips. Donkey derbies. Gritty sandwiches eaten in cagoules while hunkered behind a wind break What it is not often noted for, however, is show-stopping gardens. But here, on the beach outside Whitstable<\/a>, is just such a place. Viewed from the shingle, it rises in waves of planting \u2013 fireworks of Stipa gigantea<\/em> exploding as your eye tracks back and forth and up to the imposing new-build house above. From that vantage point, it offers a completely different perspective, stepping down to the shore in a series of terraces<\/a>, neatly echoing the descent of the groynes and the tidemarks of the seaweed washed up on the beach beyond.<\/p>

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The garden is the creation of designer Declan Buckley<\/a>, who was brought in by architects Stiff + Trevillion, whose clients had bought a large plot of land on which to build. \u201cThere\u2019s a 9m drop from the entrance to the beach,\u201d says Declan, \u201cso the brief was really about how to settle the house into the landscape.\u201d<\/p>
The feathery foliage and delicate flowerheads of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) add another texture to the planting around the swimming pool, where the water acts as a giant mirror to the sky, reflecting the clouds and the sunset. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Declan took as his starting point the existing vegetation growing on the beach: ground-hugging stonecrops (Sedum<\/a> acre<\/em> and Sedum album<\/em>), patches of grasses<\/a> (Lagurus ovatus<\/em>), crow garlic (Allium vineale<\/em>), luxuriant clumps of sea beet (Beta vulgaris <\/em>subsp. maritima<\/em>) and sea kale (Crambe maritima<\/em>) with its honey-scented flowers. \u201cI spent a lot of time walking along the beach and photographing everything that grew there,\u201d he says.<\/p>
$\"This$ This elegant Corten-steel rod fence is cleverly designed to prevent the owners\u2019 dog from escaping, while maintaining the garden\u2019s breezy, open feeling. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Declan worked with nurserywoman Chris Marchant <\/a>on the planting, and while they have incorporated some wildflowers \u2013 notably the sea kale \u2013 \u201cthis is,\u201d he says, \u201cno Dungeness<\/a>\u201d, referencing Derek Jarman\u2019s famous garden at Prospect Cottage.<\/a> Though designed to echo Whitstable\u2019s black timber fishing huts, at nearly 400 square metres and with an 11m swimming pool, the house is clearly designed to impress. \u201cI wanted the garden to have that same feeling of relaxed luxury,\u201d says Declan. \u201cA place that the clients would look forward to returning to.\u201d<\/p>
$\"Corten-steel$
Corten-steel steps run down from the terrace outside the back door, framed by the mini wildflower meadow to one side of the house. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The space is divided into three distinct levels. Outside the kitchen and living areas, a slim terrace runs the length of the property, skirted with a narrow Corten-steel <\/a>bed where Agapanthus<\/em><\/a> mingle with trailing rosemary, long-flowering Euphorbia seguieriana<\/a><\/em> and cushions of Erigeron karvinskianus.<\/a><\/em> The next level down is the pool terrace, fringed with a deep bed that sings with repeated plantings of Salvia<\/a><\/em> \u2018Blue Spire\u2019, the deeper purple haze of Verbena officinalis<\/a><\/em> \u2018Bampton\u2019 and grasses including the stipa and Helictotrichon sempervirens<\/em>. \u201cCoastal gardens tend to be windy and grasses<\/a> are fantastic for capturing movement,\u201d says Declan.<\/p>
$\"The$
The blue-green foliage of Euphorbia myrsinites makes a statement in this Corten-steel-edged bed with Erigeron karvinskianus daisies. Arbutus unedo f. rubra is the focal point. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure>
A seating area disguises the plant room for the pool, and a miniature wildflower meadow rises up behind this to the side of the house, providing a low-maintenance alternative to a lawn. Small trees<\/a> \u2013 Arbutus<\/em> unedo<\/em> f. rubra<\/em> and some small eucalyptus species \u2013 add height and sculptural qualities and help the garden to blend with neighbouring plots. Generally though, as the garden nears the beach, the planting becomes lower with clumps of Teucrium, Crambe <\/em>and Santolina<\/em> nestling against the distinctive Corten-steel fence. An adaptation of an earlier bollard and chain design, this is an elegant and generous solution that arguably affords walkers the best view of the garden. \u201cAt one point so many people were asking what the plants were that we had to attach a planting plan to the fence,\u201d says Declan. \u201cPeople absolutely love it.\u201d<\/p>
$\"The$ The sheltered courtyard at the rear of the house has a different feel, with tall Aralia elata, Fatsia polycarpa, ferns, including Dryopteris erythrosora, and low-growing Soleirolia soleirolii. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure>
And well they might. Though the plants have been selected for their ability to cope with the salt-laden winds and hot summer sun so common here, there has been no sacrifice of beauty. Mounds of evergreen Pittosporum tenuifolium<\/a><\/em> \u2018Golf Ball\u2019 and Phillyrea angustifolia <\/em>(which bears beautifully scented flowers in late spring) ensure year-round structure and interest, but it\u2019s the sight of the garden in summer \u2013 when the clients spend most time here \u2013 that really takes your breath away. A mix of purples<\/a>, silvers and golds, it responds beautifully to the abundance of light, shimmering, intensifying and blushing as the sun arcs through the sky.<\/p>
$\"The$
The planting includes purple Russian sage Salvia \u2018Little Spire\u2019, with spiky, metallic blue Eryngium planum \u2018Blaukappe\u2019 and Eryngium alpinum \u2018Blue Star\u2019, alongside sedums, fennel and the tumbling stems of Salvia rosmarinus Prostrata Group, and domes of Pittosporum tenuifolium \u2018Golf Ball\u2019 for added structure. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure>
In the lower part of the garden, the plants appear to grow out of the gravel, but, in fact, this is a trick of the eye. \u201cWe\u2019d expected lovely free-draining soil here,\u201d says Declan, \u201cbut instead we found clay, and after the build the ground was so compacted it would have been impossible to plant anything in it.\u201d Imported free-draining loam proved the solution, with the plants watered in and then covered in cockle-shell mulch to prevent evaporation.<\/p>
8 plants perfect for the coast from the garden <\/strong><\/p>
$\"Eucalyptus$
1) Eucalyptus gregsoniana Much smaller than many eucalyptus species, the Wolgan snow gum has red shoots, white flowers in spring and summer and beautiful bark. 7m x 7m. RHS H5. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Crambe$
2) Crambe maritima Tiny, crinkly, purple and green leaves emerge each spring developing into a sizeable, eye-catching mound of foliage, crowned in summer by a cloud of honey-scented flowers. 80cm x 60cm. RHS H7, USDA 5a-9b. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Euphorbia$
Euphorbia seguieriana Despite its tendency to flop, this spurge is worth growing for its acid-yellow flowers, which light up the garden for months. 80cm x 80cm. RHS H5. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Salvia$
Salvia rosmarinus Prostrata Group This low-spreading, trailing rosemary has small, pale-blue flowers and aromatic leaves. 30cm x 60cm. RHS H4, USDA 8a-10b. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Eryngium$
Eryngium planum \u2018Blaukappe\u2019 Beautiful, hardy and great for pollinators, this sea holly bears bobbles of small, blue flowerheads surrounded by spiky bracts. 1m x 50cm. RHS H5, USDA 5a-8b. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Daucus$
Daucus carota Pretty umbels of tiny, white flowers on tall, wiry stems make this a good cut flower as well as an attractive biennial in this garden\u2019s mini wildflower meadow. 90cm x 45cm. RHS H7. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Verbena$
Verbena officinalis \u2018Bampton\u2019 A long-flowering perennial with purple-tinted leaves and vivid, pink-purple flower spikes. Best in full sun. Height and spread: 90cm x 60cm. RHS H6\u2020. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>
$\"Euphorbia$
Euphorbia myrsinites Silvery, triangular leaves spiralling around trailing stems topped with lime-green flowers make this plant a talking point. 15cm x 30cm. AGM*. RHS H5, USDA 5a-9b. \u00a9 Clive Nichols<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div>