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Salt-tolerant plants for roadsides and coasts

Plants that stand road salt and sea spray: for the strip by the street, the edge of the drive and coastal gardens.

Salt reaches a garden two ways. By the sea it comes on the wind as spray. Inland it comes from the road: winter salt is splashed and sprayed by passing cars, shovelled onto the edge of the drive with the snow, and washed into the soil in the thaw. Either way it burns leaves and buds, and in the soil it draws water out of roots, so a salted plant looks dry even when the ground is wet.

The plants below are listed by NC State as salt tolerant. Put them in the first few feet from the road or drive, where the splash lands, and keep the salt-tender ones further back. Many have grey, waxy or leathery leaves, which shrug the salt off.

165 plants: 59 perennials, 2 ferns, 19 grasses and 85 shrubs.

The dozen to start with

  • Purple coneflower

    Purple coneflower

    3 ft · late June to early September · host plant

    A tough native with purple-pink petals around a bronze cone, blooming for weeks in midsummer.

  • Creeping phlox

    Creeping phlox

    6 in · mid April to mid May

    A low, spreading mat that turns into a sheet of colour in spring.

  • Butterfly weed

    Butterfly weed

    24 in · late June to early August · host plant

    Flat clusters of vivid orange flowers in midsummer, covered in butterflies, on a low, bushy plant with a deep taproot.

  • Creeping thyme

    Creeping thyme

    3 in · early June to mid July

    A fragrant, ground-hugging mat that is covered in tiny flowers in early summer.

  • Pink muhly grass

    Pink muhly grass

    3 ft · mid September to early November

    In October a quiet mound of wiry, dark green leaves disappears under a billowing cloud of vivid pink that looks like cotton candy.

  • Winterberry

    Winterberry

    8 ft · grown for its leaves · host plant

    A native holly that drops its leaves in autumn to show branches packed with bright red berries, which last into winter until the birds take them.

  • Rosemary

    Rosemary

    4 ft · early March to early May

    The kitchen herb: a dense, aromatic, evergreen shrub with needle-like leaves and small, pale blue flowers from late winter into spring.

  • Bigleaf hydrangea

    Bigleaf hydrangea

    5 ft · late June to late August

    The classic mophead and lacecap hydrangea, with big, glossy leaves and large flower heads.

  • Japanese camellia

    Japanese camellia

    10 ft · early February to early April

    Polished, dark evergreen leaves and large, formal flowers in red, pink or white from late winter into spring.

  • Japanese holly fern

    Japanese holly fern

    24 in · grown for its leaves

    Thick, glossy, dark green fronds with large, pointed leaflets like holly leaves.

  • Dwarf fountain grass 'Hameln'

    Dwarf fountain grass 'Hameln'

    2½ ft · late July to mid September

    A neat, arching mound topped with fuzzy bottle-brush plumes from late summer.

  • Switchgrass 'Northwind'

    Switchgrass 'Northwind'

    5½ ft · early August to early October · host plant

    The most upright switchgrass: a narrow, rigid column of olive-blue leaves that never flops, turning gold in autumn and standing through winter.

A bed planned only from these plants

The planner was given only the plants on this page that suit zone 6 and full sun, and designed this 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed from them when the page was made.

A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed at eye level in late July: Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch', Verbena 'Homestead Purple', Fernleaf yarrow 'Cloth of Gold', Northern sea oats, Mugo pine 'Mops', Joe Pye weed 'Little Joe', Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer'.
A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) contemporary bed in zone 6, full sun, seen from the path in late July.
3. Fernleaf yarrow 'Cloth of Gold'33. Fernleaf yarrow 'Cloth of Gold'33. Fernleaf yarrow 'Cloth of Gold'36. Joe Pye weed 'Little Joe'66. Joe Pye weed 'Little Joe'66. Joe Pye weed 'Little Joe'65. Mugo pine 'Mops'51. Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch'11. Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch'11. Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch'11. Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch'11. Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch'12. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'22. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'22. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'21. Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch'11. Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch'11. Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch'11. Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch'11. Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch'14. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats44. Northern sea oats46. Joe Pye weed 'Little Joe'67. Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer'77. Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer'77. Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer'77. Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer'77. Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer'77. Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer'77. Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer'77. Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer'72. Verbena 'Homestead Purple'2
From above, to scale. Each circle is one plant, as wide as the room it needs.

The plants

  1. 1 Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch' × 10, pink
  2. 2 Verbena 'Homestead Purple' × 4, purple
  3. 3 Fernleaf yarrow 'Cloth of Gold' × 3, yellow
  4. 4 Northern sea oats × 5, tan
  5. 5 Mugo pine 'Mops' × 1, dark green leaves
  6. 6 Joe Pye weed 'Little Joe' × 4, pink
  7. 7 Gloriosa daisy 'Indian Summer' × 8, yellow

Planned as a contemporary bed: 32 of the 32 plants that stand in groups (100%) are set out in a pattern with their neighbours: a straight row, a triangle, or five like the five on a dice. The longest in flower is verbena 'Homestead Purple': 21 weeks, from mid May to early October. Fernleaf yarrow 'Cloth of Gold' and Joe Pye weed 'Little Joe' anchor the back corners of the bed: the tallest plants on the plan stand there.

The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 3 Good, 2 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: Northern sea oats spreads aggressively. Each plant's details say more.

Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.

All 165 plants

Show all 165, by where they go in a bed

Front of a bed 39

Middle of a bed 44

Back of a bed 82

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