Attracting bees to a coastal garden

Why seaside gardens test a pollinator's patience

Salt spray, wind that never quite drops and thin, free-draining soil make the coast a challenging place to garden — and a challenging place to be a bee. Blossom is stripped from exposed branches, leaves are scorched by salt burn, and gritty ground sheds water almost as fast as it falls. Add the fact that many coastal plots have little deep shelter, and you can see why pollinators sometimes seem thin on the ground.

The good news is that coastal wildflowers have been solving these problems for centuries. The plants that thrive on clifftops, shingle banks and dune edges are nectar-rich, wind-hardy and tolerant of salt — and they will do the same job in your garden. Choose them deliberately and a windswept plot becomes a reliable larder for bees, hoverflies and butterflies from spring to autumn.

Sea thrift: the clifftop classic

Sea thrift (Armeria maritima) is the emblem of the British coast, and rightly so. It forms tight evergreen cushions of narrow leaves that shrug off salt and gale alike, then sends up stiff stems topped with dense heads of pink flowers in late spring and early summer.

For bees, thrift is genuinely useful rather than merely pretty. The flowers are shallow and open, which suits short-tongued solitary bees and hoverflies, and a good clump will keep flowering for weeks.

• Plant in full sun in gritty, sharply drained soil; fork horticultural grit into heavy ground.
• Water only until established — thrift resents sitting wet through winter.
• Deadhead spent blooms to tidy the cushion and encourage a second flush.
• Divide congested clumps every few years in early spring.

Lavender that thrives in salt-laden air

Lavender is arguably the single best plant for a coastal bee garden. It loves the dry, stony, slightly alkaline ground that seaside plots so often provide, it copes with wind, and its flowers are loaded with nectar in midsummer when other plants are flagging.

In exposed positions, stick to the hardy English lavenders — Lavandula angustifolia varieties such as 'Hidcote' and 'Munstead' are compact, intensely fragrant and famously tough. French and Spanish lavenders are lovelier than they are reliable in a salt-laden gale, so save those for a warm, sheltered wall.

• Plant on a slight mound or in a raised bed so winter rain drains from the crown.
• Clip lightly after flowering — never cut back into old, leafless wood.
• Space plants so air moves freely between them, which discourages fungal trouble.
• Underplant with thyme, rosemary and oregano for a low, drought-proof nectar bank.

Echium: the bee magnet for sheltered corners

If you want drama as well as nectar, echium delivers. Viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare) is a British native biennial with bristly stems and vivid blue flowers that unfurl from pink buds along curled spikes. Bees adore it, and it self-seeds politely in gravel and dry borders.

Tree echium (Echium pininana) is the head-turner — a towering rosette-topped spire that can reach three or four metres in a good year. It is tender, so give it a sunny south- or west-facing wall, mulch the crown with something dry and gritty in winter, and treat any seedlings it leaves as a bonus.

Both flower over a long stretch of summer, offering an almost industrial quantity of pollen and nectar. Site them behind a low hedge or in the lee of a wall where wind will not snap the stems.

Planting for a long season of nectar

Bees need food from early spring to late autumn, so think in layers rather than one splash of summer colour.

• Early spring: rosemary, heathers, willow and flowering currant for queen bumblebees waking from hibernation.
• Late spring: sea thrift, wallflowers, alliums and hardy geraniums.
• Midsummer: lavender, echium, catmint, thyme and sea holly.
• Late summer and autumn: sedum, asters, fennel, oregano left to flower, and ivy — a superb late source.

Group plants in generous drifts rather than dotting them about. Bees forage more efficiently when one species is concentrated in a single place, and a block of lavender or thrift looks wonderful against coastal light.

Shelter, soil and simple coastal sense

Nectar is only half the story; bees also need somewhere to nest and a reason to linger. Shelter makes a seaside garden. A wind-filtering hedge of escallonia, tamarisk or sea buckthorn cuts salt damage and creates the warm, still pockets pollinators love. Failing that, a woven hurdle, a dry-stone wall or a sturdy trellis will do the job.

Leave a few patches of bare, sandy ground for mining bees, and keep hollow stems and one untidy corner over winter for leafcutters and mason bees. Avoid pesticides entirely — a coastal garden's insect life is its greatest asset. Mulch with compost or grit to hold a little moisture, water new plantings deeply in dry spells, and let the maritime character of the place show. Sea thrift, lavender and echium will repay you with colour, scent and a garden buzzing from spring until the first frosts.