***LOOKING BACK AND LAUGHING**BUT WONDERING NOW**

I don't remember the blog where I said that but I don't think real gardeners can ever stop buying plants. It's in their blood :o)

It's really a matter of trial and error (more error in my case lol) so keep buying what you fancy and if it grows it grows. If not, not ...
but the buying of it is just as enjoyable as the growing. We can't just buy according to the book - we'd become like robots, and that wouldn't do.

Anyway your garden looks stunning, so you must be doing something right. Don't spoil it ...

Hywel your comments were really funny, but it was 5 years ago!! the problem is, we are loosing more than we should, because they are unsuitable for a seaside garden, we have been doing just that buying with our heart and not with our head....the above photograph was taken many years ago, it has never looked as good unfortunately....thanks for you kind comments.

Oh dear....that's so sad. Your garden looks fab in the photo, but it still looks fab! I'm really upset about the roses as I am only 2 miles from the sea as well!! If and When mine deteriorate, I shall replace them, but not until I really have to...I so love roses. And anyway, lots of plants deteriorate with age...just like humans! Oh, but then Angela...how many times do we read in books that you can't plant this and this other thing won't grow there and lord help us if we try to grow the other in that soil! I was a lot more experimental before I started reading gardening books, and most things fared ok. I've lost count of the times I've read such a book and said to myself 'what a lot of bunkum'. I know, they don't lie...but they give us the optimum conditions for chelsea flower show standard results, and gardening isn't like that is it....sometimes we are quite happy with 'average' growth because we love the plant so much. So I'm with Hywel here. You continue to grow what you love...within the bounds of sanity of course! And by all means have some coast loving plants, but bear in mind how many houses and gardens are between you and the sea and how much of the salt spray is caught by them....I don't know how many houses there are of course! :) You are also quite right when you say that the weather has changed...but then it might change back again. We never know what we're getting from one week to the next!

p.s. you do undoubtedly have a lot more pests to contend with than ever before, and that must be frustrating at times.

found this quote on an american coastal gardening website

: it has been recognized that salt spray is most damaging to plants growing within 1,000ft (305m) of the shoreline. :

And thats much less than a quarter of a mile.

I didn't realise you were so close to the sea Dd - to make that much difference. I remember you saying you had lost a lot of grasses. As you know, a good giveaway is seeing what thrives in your area, me with my frosts and you with your sea spray, tut. There was a garden on GW last year near the sea. I think he planted a hedge to protect the garden, maybe used seabuckthorn, I can't remember.

On the 3 occasions I have visited your garden it has always looked lovely, well designed and interesting. OHs' grass is worthy of Lords. 100 x better than my grass, but I expect your OH hasn't mixed concrete on yours like my OH. I think you are being too hard on yourself.
I have said no more Iris, there are so many in such a small space, I am just asking for trouble.

Your garden looks absolutely gorgeous in the picture! But, I know seaside gardening can be a real challenge!!

You must be doing something right, Angela, because the NGS approve! We visited a Yellow Book garden in Crantock (overlooking the sea in north Cornwall) and they had quite a few grasses - the owner said wind was the worst problem, but the view made up for it.

Karen we are roughly 300 yards from the sea, so quite near....I agree with most you have written, I would hate to lose the roses, but they have not performed as well as they should have, and other than replacing them with new stock, which would be costly to say the least......we are going to have a rethink on their feeding and spraying.....and yes we do get too many pests,thats the south though! we will buy more seaside plants, and turf out the ones that are not doing well.....
Siri that is very sweet of you to say, I will relay your comments on the grass, because OH was despairing this week, and wanted to take it all up!
Thanks Paul, it certainly is......
Dawn we have planted large trees and shrubs that like well, can cope with the spray, in the hope we can create a microclimate, but it has not helped the roses or the clematis unfortunately, they flower but not as well as they should, we will have to see what next season brings...

Sheila I know Crantock had a super holiday there many years ago, before our children were born, yes that long!! it is the wind, we have managed to slow it down, but it still swirls around the garden causing havoc in its wake.....and there is nothing you can do about it, just being picky, we are both feeling a tad down at the moment, will be fine when the rain stops lol

Raining hard here too, Angela so I suggest you play one, or both, of the DVD's Flori created of your beautifully planted garden back in July 2011. Just remind yourselves of how your well-stocked garden inspired Cinders and I to blog about it, not forgetting all those visitors you have had on your NGS open days. We are about a mile from the sea, the garden has clay soil and many critters attacking foliage of anything they find tasty but we carry on regardless!

Thinking of you, keep smiling. :o))x

Oh dear, I have always admired your garden Dd, whilst reading through the blog I was reminded of a saying my mum used to say " worrying about things before they happen just proves you have too much time on your hands" perhaps feeling down is your main problem, as you have already stated above, see what next season brings, lets face it we have had some weird and wonderful weather changes in recent years so our gardens are adapting, many of us can now grow things that our parents would never have dreamt of trying and yet we have lost others, could all flip the other way in the next few years, I have no doubt that your garden will flourish for many years to come with all the care you and your OH will provide...

What a beautiful photograph.

I think this has been a strange year for our gardens and many of our plants have struggled because of the poor weather and numerous pests.

Is this the trend or is it just a 'one off?'

Perhaps we mustn't give up on all the plants we love just yet?!

I would be so sad not to have roses!

Wildrose, we could not have a garden without roses, I do think Karen has a point re diseases weakening the plants in time, some of our roses could be over ten years old, one forgets........and it was a bad year, well in the south it was for sure...
Lincs your Mum was right....lol we will wait and see before we go mad, I expect too much really, and getting impatient in my old age....
Shirley, what a good idea, I might just do that(the DVDs) ..carry on regardless will have to be our motto from now on I can see..........perhaps expecting roses to perform year in year out at the coast was just too much, thanks for your kind comments....

If its any consolation some of my roses have had a marvellous year and yet others have really struggled to produce any blooms at all and that is in the same garden...

We will have to put that down to weather and the rose itself....odd isn't it?

your garden always looks amazing Dd2. I had no idea you were so close to the sea..

Thats very kind of you Sandra, yes can see it from our bedroom window, its blowing all the salt in today....sigh!

Your garden is so lovely, if mine was only half as good I would be pleased.
All the different locations have their own specific challenges & it seems we always want the things less well suited, I used to breed soft water tropicals in a hard water area & the folk in Yorkshire with soft water were into hard water species, we each were spending £££'s for special equipment, isn't that just silly!

Thanks Green finger, we do these things, because we like a challenge, but sometimes it is silly as you say lol

I hate the salt on the Windows.....drives me mad