Reality Check: Bach gardens

There are some lucky enough to own a beach house just a few hours drive from a major city, and there are others who still have it on their list of dream goals. We of the second category have imagined that the lucky ones have just returned from a fabulous, relaxing Labour Weekend at their coastal abode where they've been lying around in hammocks, sipping on a cold beer or gin and tonic while reading the latest Bryce Courtney novel.

The reality is that they've probably been surveying their seaside property looking at all the work that needs doing. Yes, the lawn-mowing bloke has been in as per the contract but the house is an arachnophobic's nightmare, the garden's grown out of control, and the decks and paving are dangerously slippery.

So the plan I recommend is to devote the next weekend away to property maintenance - one weekend of hard yakka and it's the hammock from thereon in.

While doing the big clean-up it might also be a great time to take stock of your holiday property. The key to seaside gardening is simplicity. Holiday homes are for relaxing in, not being head down, bum-up in the garden weeding. If you've taken on a property that had an established plant-filled garden it may be time to be ruthless and cull the number of pithy plants you have. It's easy, just remember that hammock.

Think lawns, think trees, think tough, drought tolerant natives, think grey foliage. Forget shrubs, deciduous perennials, bulbs, roses and busy garden borders - they're way too much work. Consider the trees that are already on site - are some screening neighbours, providing protection from prevailing winds or framing that wonderful coastal view?

If they're healthy and well established they stay. If more trees are needed there are quite a few coastal stalwarts that thrive on neglect and the abuse of salt-laden winds as well as minimal water in summer.

Of the many native coastal trees my favourites include the Cabbage Tree, Cordyline australis - its foliage not only looks and sounds great as it moves with the breeze but if well positioned it looks stunning with the setting sun silhouetting its wonderful form. People often shy away from the Pohutukawa, Metrosideros excelsa, in city gardens due to its eventual size, but these wonderful summer-flowering trees are the quintessential must-have for coastal gardens. Look out for native trees with tough shiny foliage; Griselinia spp., the ever popular Puka, Mertya sinclairii and Karaka, Corynocarpus laevigatus. Quick growing trees for wind shelter include Ake Ake, Dodonaea viscosa,Karo, Pittosporum crassifolium, and Chatham Island Ake Ake, Olearia traversii.

Palms can add a touch of the tropics, or, if combined with large drifts of lavender or the silver-white foliage of lavender cotton, Santolina chamaecyparissus, a Mediterranean flavour. Gerald Endt of Landsendt Subtropical Plants (ph 09 818 6914) says his top three coastal palms include the Jelly Palm, Butia capitata, the European Fan Palm, Chamaerops humilis and the Nikau, Rhopalostylis spp.. Choose the better looking Nikau species from the offshore islands of Chatham, Kermadec or Great Barrier as these are sun and wind tolerant.

Autumn is really the best time to plant out new trees. So over summer redesign your low-maintenance garden on paper and check out what grows well in your area. And if it all sounds like to much hard work and you'd rather be reading a novel, I know of one landscape designer who'd quite happily provide a garden plan in exchange for a week's free holiday accommodation!

Contact Regina Wypych at Creative Solutions Garden Design, ph 818 4153.