Sea Holly
Rosscarbery, West Cork
An exposed coastal site planted in the right order — shelter first, ornament a season later.
- Garden size
- 620 m²
- Project type
- Natural
- Investment
- €58,000 – €64,000
- Programme
- 2 seasons
The brief
A house 300 metres from open water with a salt-laden south-westerly across it. Everything the owners had planted in four years had burned off within two winters.
What we did
The mistake being repeated was planting ornamentals into full exposure. We stopped the ornamental planting entirely for a season and put in a shelter belt instead: escallonia, olearia, griselinia and elaeagnus, planted small so they establish rather than rock, and staked low.
Hard landscaping went in behind that line — a sheltered terrace tucked against the gable where the wind curls rather than hits, and a low stone wall that does more for the microclimate than it does for the view.
The ornamental planting followed the next autumn, once there was something to shelter behind. Everything specified is salt-tolerant regardless, because shelter belts have gaps.
Outcome
Two winters in with no salt burn on the ornamental planting. The shelter belt has closed to about 1.8 metres and is doing the work it was planted to do.
The layout, before and after
The site survey and the finished design, drawn to the same scale on the same boundaries.
