How2Day: Shrubs for Seaside Planting

One of the main concerns of landscapers living near the sea is that the species they plant will succumb to the effects of the salt in the ocean spray. A number of native and nonnative shrubs, however, can survive near the ocean. These species have features that make them appealing as landscaping choices.

Native to Japan and hardy to U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zone 5, the shore juniper, or Juniperus conferta, fulfills many landscaping needs. You can plant it seaside in your planters, as a ground cover, in small groupings or as a way to prevent erosion. Shore juniper is a low shrub, usually growing to just 2 feet but capable of expanding out to 9 feet. Shore juniper has overlapping, sharp, blue-green needles, and its flowers produce plentiful blue-black cones. Shore juniper will adapt to sandy soil in full sun but does poorly in wet areas. Cultivars include Blue Pacific and Silver Mist.

The best aspects of the Peking cotoneaster, or Cotoneaster acutifolius, are its colorful fall appearance, pink-white spring flowers and blackish fruits. This shrub from northern China will grow from USDA zones 4 through 7, but it will perform better in the colder areas of that range. Peking cotoneaster is tolerant of salt spray and of pruning, so you can trim it into a hedge. Growing to 10 feet when left unabated, Peking cotoneaster makes a reliable privacy screen. Keep in mind that for those with allergies, bees will swarm to the flowers during May and June when they blossom.

Suitable for use as a hedge, screen or specimen plant in USDA zones 8 through 10, Japanese mock orange, or Pittosporum tobira, grows to 15 feet in its native China and Japan. Japanese mock orange is very tolerant of salt. Featuring shiny, leathery, evergreen foliage, Japanese mock orange comes in a dwarf cultivar, Wheeler's Dwarf, which you can employ as ground cover. Japanese mock orange blooms in the late spring, getting its name from the aroma of its blossoms, which smell like those of the orange tree. Japanese mock orange grows in a number of soil conditions, but you should refrain from placing it in your wet spots.

Summersweet clethra, or Clethra alnifolia, will tolerate seaside plantings, notes the University of Connecticut Plant Database. Summersweet clethra grows to 8 feet, producing white flowers in summer that look like long bottlebrushes, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden. The species is useful as a foundation plant, a privacy screen, and a hedge or alone as a specimen planting. In the wild, even away from the coast, summersweet clethra typically grows near water. Keep the plant away from dry, hot sites. Hybrids of summersweet clethra, also called sweet pepperbush, include such types as Ruby Spice and September Beauty. An eastern United States native, it grows from USDA zone 4 southward.

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