November 24, 2005

 This week Zahrah Nasir gives tips on how to create an eye-catching seaside garden with plants that thrive under harsh conditions

Creating and maintaining an attractive array of plants in a seaside garden or on the balcony of an ocean-facing apartment in Karachi is quite a tough challenge and not one to be taken lightly if you intend to succeed.

If planning a ground level garden then the first three things you have to contend with are saline and sandy soil conditions, a dust and salt laden breeze and, more than likely, water with a high salinity content. The soil can obviously be upgraded by adding lots and lots of sweet earth and well rotted organic compost and manure. Remember also that this is not simply a one off task but a job that needs attention at least twice a year, topping up wherever possible, as the surface soil will soon become highly saline again as the breeze continually blows in yet more salty sand and dust.

Even if you manage to establish a sheltering hedge to break the breeze, good old green privet or bougainvillaea being two of the most salt-tolerant plants for hedging purposes, the salty sand and sticky dust will still manage to invade, albeit at a slower pace. The problem of saline water is not easy to deal with as even expensive tanker water tends to be extremely brackish in nature and not all plants will tolerate this.

All of the above problems relate to balcony gardens in ocean-facing apartments. The higher up the apartment block you live in, the more breeze the plants have to put with. The trick in such problematic locations is to select your plants very carefully indeed, choosing only proven salt-tolerant varieties and not, unfortunately, just anything in a nursery garden which attracts your attention.

Having said this though, I must point out that some of the extremely attractive plants found growing in the award-winning Boat Club garden are not salt-tolerant at all and I can only surmise that this beautiful, relaxing garden, obtains more protection from the struggling off-shore mangroves.

When I lived on a ground floor sea facing apartment many years ago, I did manage to establish a thriving vegetable garden growing things such as cabbages, aubergines, capsicums with complete ease in the shelter of a mixed privet and bougainvillaea hedge but found tomatoes and cucumbers to be a complete waste of time.

Later on, in a town house in the same locality with a high wall all around the garden which should have made things much easier, I had very little success with anything at all, but, admittedly, my heart just wasn't in it as we were waiting to move to Bhurban, and I am sure that the garden was perfectly well aware of this!

Residences directly facing the beach are the most difficult for growing healthy plants. However, apartments and houses in the second row have more protection and so on. Notwithstanding the drawbacks faced by gardening enthusiasts in these areas, a pleasant and reproductive garden can be achieved.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the type of trees most likely to thrive under such harsh conditions: coconut palms, particularly those of dwarf or medium height are top of my list here, closely followed by the deciduous, tall growing erythrina indica, also known as the Indian coral tree, with white or scarlet flowers; thespesia populnea, tulip tree is of medium height and, as the name suggests, bears beautiful yellow, tulip like blooms on and off throughout the year; casuerina equisetfolia, rather similar to a cypress comes in quite useful as do numerous varieties of acacia.

Casuerina equisetfolia can be kept pruned back for hedging purposes as can privet and bougainvillaea.

Other useful shrubs, some of which can be grown in balcony pots, which tolerate saline conditions, include clereodendron which has small white flowers; eranthemum which is an excellent foliage plant; frangipani as long as it gets some shade; oleander and Persian lilac or melia azadarach.

Climbers and creepers for seaside localities include the aforementioned bougainvillaea; bignonia venusta or golden shower; solanum seafortheanum, the potato creeper which has pretty lilac flowers followed by red berries; thunbergia grandiflora and numerous varieties of ipomea including the annual morning glory vine which has always been one of my personal favourites.

In locations sheltered from the sea breeze I have often seen bananas, papayas, guavas and custard apples all thriving extremely well. Bulbous and rhizomes flowers which do well both in pots or in the ground include the ever popular amaryllis; canna lilies; hermerocallis or cay lilies; hymenocallis or spider lilies and agapanthus.

Now let’s take a more detailed look at pot plants for a troublesome balcony or windy patio: sansiveria, sometimes called mother-in-laws tongue or snake plant is a very tough customer indeed as long as the soil is allowed to completely dry out in between waterings. It may not be to everyone's taste but is extremely useful to have around, particularly if pots are placed in groups and a mixture of colours is used; tradescentia and zebrina, both trailing foliage plants which need to be kept moist; small, not large, leaved ficus varieties in exposed locations and the large leaved rubber plants if sheltered. These need watering every three to four days at the most and numerous varieties of both cacti and succulents, bryophylum for example, neither of which require regular watering and hardly any at all during periods of high humidity.

It can be difficult to keep the leaves of your plants free of salt and dust under such adverse conditions. If you can sponge them down with clean water this is fine but, if the water is too saline or brackish, it maybe better to use baby wipes or some other form of moist towelette.

Cheerful seasonal flowers for salty spots include the ever popular nasturtium (dwarf, trailing or climbing and whose dazzling range of colours is a treat to see), salvias, amaranthus, tagetes, scabious, ageratum, candytuft, aster, antirrhinum, calendula, cockscomb, statice, verbena, zinnia, alyssum, gaillardia, evening primrose, mesembryanthemums and even petunias, which in pots or hanging baskets are surprisingly tolerant.

Most of the above named, colourful seasonal plants should be watered on alternate evenings during cool weather. If they flower during hot, humid times of the year, then the humidity helps to keep soil conditions moist so watering every other day may be sufficient. Whatever you do though, don't give up!

If one plant doesn't particularly like your individual location, then another one will. Also, as a shortcut, if you do not have previous experience of growing things in a seaside place, look around and see what other residents of your neighbourhood or apartment block are doing and, if you want to know their gardening secrets….. simply ask!

Send your gardening queries at zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. Answers will appear in a future issue of 'The Review'.

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