Salt Tolerant Plants for Beach Landscaping

Large quantities of salt in the soil just don't mix well with the specimens that you'd like to grow in that soil. An excess of salt prevents them from absorbing water properly. A salty spray carried on the winds only exacerbates the problem for would-be gardeners in seaside communities. What's the answer? You should select salt-tolerant plants for beach landscaping.

The sandy soils found near beach areas retain less water and nutrients than do less porous soils, so plants growing in the former are especially susceptible to salt damage. If you're lucky, salt damage may manifest itself only in leaf-burn; but the worst cases progress from leaf-drop to death! Thus the need for information on salt-tolerant plants, especially in Florida, a state nearly envelopped by the ocean.

Salt-Tolerant Plants: Flowers and Foliage

• Ivy geraniums (Pelargonium peltatum), commonly used in hanging baskets.
• Portulaca: Drought-tolerant annual.
• Lantana plants: Treated as an annual in cooler climes, lantanas are perennials in Florida.
• Coleus blumei: Traditionally used as an annual to provide foliage in the landscape.
• Kalanchoe: Perennial in Florida.
• Daylilies (Hemerocallis spp.): Moderately salt-tolerant plants.
• Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia spp.): Discussed briefly in my article on deer-resistant plants

Salt-Tolerant Plants: Groundcovers and Vines

• Bar Harbor juniper (Juniperus horizontalis 'Bar Harbor')
• English Ivy Plants (Hedera helix): One of the most popular invasive plants
• Lilyturf (Liriope spicata)
• Virginia creeper vines (Parthenocissus quinquefolia): Another invasive, but indigenous to North America.

Three salt-tolerant plants grown in Florida are the following vines:

• Confederate jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides)
• Flowering jasmine (Jasminum floridum)
• Bougainvillea

Salt-Tolerant Plants: Shrubs

• Rosa rugosa: That hardy, salt-tolerant plant, the "beach rose."
• Sumac, including staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina (hirta))
• Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata)
• Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica)

Bayberry shrubs, famous for the candles made from their berries, are best grown in zones 2-8. But the "waxy" equivalent for a salt-tolerant plant in Florida is wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera). Three other salt-tolerant plants grown in Florida are the following shrubs:

• Florida privet (Forestiera segregata)
• Sandankwa viburnum (Viburnum suspensum)
• Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria)

Salt-Tolerant Plants: Trees

Norway maples and Amur maples

Pin oaks, white oaks and red oaks

Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana): Salt-tolerant plant commonly grown as far south as Northern Florida.

Southern red cedar (Juniperus silicicola): Salt-tolerant plant grown in Southern Florida

Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens): One of the types of palm trees that tolerate salt very well. Saw palmetto reaches a height of 10-20 feet.

Date palm trees (Phoenix dactylifera) are taller palm trees (50 feet) that are cold-hardy to 18 degrees Fahrenheit. The University of Florida Extension lists date palm trees as moderately salt-tolerant.