Considering the extreme climates that coastal plants need to contend with, surely they have something to teach us gardeners about the way we garden? For while there seems to be a patternless randomizing about the plants that grow near the beach, there are many attributes coastal plants share that help them succeed where even our hardiest plants would fail.

Years of weathering, struggling and acclimatising have allowed these plants to survive and they do so with no help at all from the human race. In fact, we do them more harm than good and add to the factors which govern their very existence.

And it seems to me that their secrets aren't that hard to learn. They're tucked away from the unsuspecting eye but spare a few minutes to observe and question, and they will readily disperse their wisdom. They're almost too keen to give away what centuries have made them fight for.

While millions of gardeners don't even live on the coast, and some may have not even seen it, the changing global weather patterns are forcing all of us to rethink our planting schemes. 'Drought-tolerant', and 'water-saving' are terms that we're hearing more than ever and are more likely to impact the next generation than our own. This means that we need to embrace the paradigm shift that the way our parents gardened is not the way we should. And we should begin to consider plants that are more readily suited to our conditions and climate.

So, what can we learn from these coastal plants?

Foliage of coastal plants

• Reduce evaporation - many coastal plants have felt-tipped foliage and are unabashedly matte. This reduces the effects of the sun slowing evaporation and thereby enables the plants to be more efficient. The water source they can tap is then only ever used to feed the plant and not robbed by an aggressive sun.
• Serrated for safety - many larger leafed plants that reside on the coast have serrated or jagged edges. This is extremely helpful to combat angry winds that have no thought for these plants and bash them violently against each other or upon neighbouring rocks. The serrations make it harder for the leaves to be damaged and become susceptible to disease.

• Cupping foliage - plants like this Euphorbia paralais have learnt to turn their foliage upwards and cup them to gather much needed rainfall.
• Storage facilities - some plants like the Pigface succulent, Carpobrotus glaucescens are able to store their water source within their foliage and draw on as needed. This allows the pigface to grow where many others fail and they are often found in extreme areas where rational gardeners would be surprised to see anything grow at all.

Growing conditions of coastal plants

Coastal plants have to learn to adapt to their harsh environment much quicker than most of their domestic counterparts. Some will grow between rocks, shielded from the winds and salt-spray while others will need to live under shifting sands that threaten to bury them.

The ones that do survive have made use of a bad situation and certainly offer incredible optimism in the face of adversity.

Their roots are usually deeper than most other plants and they will take advantage of any benefit that nature offers them. Using land-forms as windbreaks, anchors and sources of safety against herbivorous animals is just one form of ingenuity they employ.

Do coastal plants flower?

It's quite a surprise to see that these plants still produce awesome displays of colour while dealing with everything they do. Yet, they somehow smile at adversity anyway.

However, their flowers also share a few things in common.

1. They're usually small and often unassuming
2. Their flowers are often simple in shape and colour
3. Flowering periods are usually quite short and coincide with prime germination periods for each plant

What can they teach us about our gardens then?

To grow plants that will survive our climates usually takes some forethought. It's rare that most gardeners can just situate a plant where they desire and reap rewards without any consideration for the plant's needs and preferences - growing plants in full-sun/shade/part-shade is just one consideration.

Questions we can ask ourselves are;

• How will this plant be protected, if indeed it needs protection from wind, animals, pests etc?
• Where will this plant derive its water from? Can I make it less dependent on me?
• Is this plant going to require the 'cotton-wool' approach or is it able to forge a life on its own?

In answering these questions we can help ourselves by making our gardens less dependent on us and ensuring that we're not taking from nature more than we're giving back.