Gardening close to the sea is a marvellous experience with the advantage of being able to grow a whole range of plants that would be killed by frost further inland.

There is also the view but the whole love affair is tempered by the exposure to salt laden winds that burn and scorch foliage.

The answer is to plant a perimeter screen to filter the wind slowing it down and removing the salt. The secret of success is to choose plants that will tolerate the conditions without becoming large enough to block the view.

A quick visit to the coast will show you the solution. As well as hawthorn, blackthorn and gorse, hedgerow plants include fuchsia, rose, hebe and sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides).

Informal flowering hedges of the large leafed Escallonia macrantha and Berberis darwinii do well and shrubs such as hydrangea, genista and the evergreen Choisia ternata excel.

Quercus ilex is better known as the evergreen oak and, left to get on with it, will grow to an enormous tree. When clipped as a hedge it is impervious to salt laden winds and cold blasts.Last winter I saw a screen planted on the coast where it was 20 ft from the high tide mark.It was 4-5 ft high, clipped and had managed to produce small acorns.

Tamarix tetrandra looks tender but it is as tough as an old boot. Its ferny foliage and bright pink flowers in May make it a choice plant for the seaside garden.

The New Zealand flax, phormium tenax, is a brute of a plant quickly forming an ever increasing clump of sword-like, upright, 8 ft high, dark green branches. Where space permits plant a group of three. Within a couple of years you will be able to grow less suitable plants on the land side using them as a windbreak.

Prepare the planting hole well with added general purpose fertilizer and some well rotted farmyard manure. Firm the soil around the roots and if necessary stake the shrubs for the first year. Water during dry periods and apply a high potash fertilizer in early autumn to harden up the young growths ready for the winter ahead.