“I grow plants wherever I can”

Salty sea spray blasts this coastal garden from winter to spring, but summer brings a colourful reprieve! Owner Helen Grimes shares its story

Helen Grimes The Old Stone Cottage, Beesands, Kingsbridge, Devon

Half acre South-facing coastal garden Improved sandy loam Herbaceous perennials; annuals; climbers; containers; monkey puzzle tree; stream; seating areas; gravel paths; greenhouse.

AT

The garden in winter

Sea views and giant sunflowers give this charming cottage garden its picturesque appeal. “Everything looks fabulous in summer,” says owner Helen Grimes, who lives here with her husband Roger. “We get the most amazing ‘golden light’ in the morning. Our sunflowers love the fact it’s so open and sunny.”

It’s hard to believe this idyllic location, at Beesands in Devon, does have its downside. “The whole garden is regularly lashed by salt sea spray,” says Helen. “Owing to the prevailing easterly winds, it’s always a scene of total devastation in spring. We’re only 4m from the sea, with a low-ish sea wall, so everything dies. It’s like spraying the whole garden with the most potent weedkiller. I used to race around with buckets of fresh water trying to save all the plants, but in the end you have to find a way of gardening with the conditions, not against them.”

Instead, Helen now focuses her efforts on growing annuals from seed and robust herbaceous perennials. “I’m pleased to say the soil is fantastic,” she says. “I couldn’t believe it when we first came here and I

RIOTOUS MIX

(clockwise from above left) Ammi majus and white cosmos ‘Purity’; sweet peas, dahlias, cosmos and larkspur are all planted out after the spring easterlies have died down; red and pink sweet peas; a tiny round gourd; clematis ‘Wisley’ with nicotiana; a path leads between larkspur, dahlias, hollyhocks and naughty orange nasturtiums

stuck a spade in. We’d previously gardened in the Chilterns, which was heavy clay.

“The house was built in the early 19th century, and people have gardened here ever since, improving the soil as they’ve gone along. I’ve improved it too, using whatever organic matter I can lay my hands on.

“When we moved here 12 years ago, the garden was mostly grass with some hebe and hydrangea shrubs. Bit by bit we got rid of the lawn, to the point where our grandchildren’s paddling pool got smaller and smaller every year! Now there’s no grass at all. I’m always on the look out for planting space, so we now just have a winding gravel path between flower beds.