England’s coasts feature a mix of salt, wind and sandy. This gives home to tough flowers and plants that you won’t find elsewhere.
Wild coastal flowers add bursts of colour to cliffs, dunes and shingle. And their presence supports rare insects and birds, for shelter. And also are pollinators for birds, butterflies and insects.
Unique Conditions of England’s Coastlines
England has unique weather (often four seasons in one day). This means that coastal flowers face everything from salt spray (whipped up by waves), relentless wind (that dries out leaves) and soils that shift, with every tide.
Some coastal flowers grow in sandy soil, others near pebbly beaches, and others near bare rock. Often in soils that would drain too fast, for most plants.
A Quick Guide to England’s Coastal Flowers
Sea Holly
This has beautiful blue flowers and grey spiky leaves. Related to carrots, the leaves are waxy, to retain water and the flowers bloom from July to September. People often mistake them for thistles. Years ago, people would pulp the roots and sweetened with sugar, then sell them as sweets.
It’s common on the Wirral coast, and an important food source for pollinators. Don’t pick these (if you do, these flowers will punish you with an injury, to tell you to stop!)
Sea Pinks (also known as Sea Thrift)
This pretty pink (or sometimes white) ‘globe’ flower is also a valuable source of pollen for wildlife, and is found near sandy beaches, saltmarshes and cliffs. Growing abundantly in Cornwall and Devon, this flower is very tolerant of wind, frost and sun.
Sea Campion
Found near shingly beaches and cliffs, each petal is split in the middle. So although it looks like it has ten petals, it only has five.
This has beautiful white flowers and silvery leaves. It’s found throughout England, mostly near cliffs and shingly beaches. It is unique in that each petal is split in the middle, so it looks like it has ten petals, but only has five.
Sea Beet
Indeed the ancestor of beetroot, this is also related to Swiss chard, and referred to as ‘wild spinach’. The green leaves grow near coasts on shingle beaches, saltmarshes and cliffs.
Sea Aster (also known as Sea Daisies)
These beautiful pink or purple flowers add vibrant colours to coastal habitats. They can tolerate strong sea spray, and salty air.
Sea Splurge
This green flower is mostly found in Southern England. Its deep roots help to prevent coastal erosion near sand dunes and salt marshes.
Sea Rocket
This again is a good flower to stabilise the soil, and again provides pollen for local wildlife. It has purple, pink or white flowers.
Sea Kale
This is mostly found near shingle and sandy beaches, with pink and white flowers.
Golden Samphire
This again is a flower that is very tolerant of sea spray and salty air, and has beautiful yellow flowers. Habitat loss (due to coastal development) has made this flower endangered.
Dune Pansy
This lives alongside coastal grasses, with white, yellow and purple flowers that pollinators adore.
Spring Quill
This purple flower is mostly found on England’s North and West coasts, growing in pretty clusters of blue flowers.
Don’t eat this plant. Unlike its cousin asparagus, it’s so poisonous it could kill you.
Yellow Horned Poppy (Glaucium flavum)
As the name suggests, this is bright yellow, with long twisted seed pods and silvery leaves that hold moisture and reflect light. It’s found on shingle beaches in Southern and Eastern England.
Viper’s Bugloss (Echium vulgare)
Viper’s Bugloss may sound scary, but it’s adored by bees and butterflies! This has spiky tall blue flowers, and prickly stems. It grows on sandy soil.
How to Help Preserve Coastal Flowers
As with everywhere in England, building and farming have removed many coastal flower habitats, and this can also mean invasive species end up choking out native blooms.
Walking too close to coastal flowers, can disturb their delicate roots.
- Don’t drop litter. Leave only footprints and memories.
- Don’t pick wildflowers (or driftwood) as they form important ecosystems for wildlife. Also don’t remove sand or pebbles from beaches (doing so can cause coastal erosion).
- Volunteer with local groups that support coastal habitats and participate in volunteer beach cleans.
- Always follow signs to avoid walking on sand dunes (especially with dogs). This also prevents disturbing disturbing nesting birds, and seals hiding their pups).
- Keep dogs away from coastal plants, as some can be toxic. Many also grow near cliffs and other hazardous areas. Read more on keeping dogs safe at the seaside.
Growing Your Own Coastal Plants?
If you live near the coast and want to grow coastal flowers, RHS has a list of suitable plants, best used with some form of windbreak (woven willow or hazel alternatives are good). Walls or fences are not great, as they can increase turbulence.
Before planting, read our post on pet-friendly gardening.
Garden Flowers of the British Isles
The Book of Garden Flowers is a complete illustrated guide to flowers of the British Isles. The perfect armchair companion to real gardening, it tells the fascinating tales of 19 flowers and their journeys from elsewhere to our gardens.
Many flowers (including all bulbs) are unsafe near animal friends. Read more on how to make your garden safe for pets.
Also don’t display indoor plants to face gardens, to help stop birds flying into windows.
Illustrated by printmaker Angie Lewis, this is a social history of flowers. Meet:
- Margery Fish (a newspaper editor who rescued many cottage garden flowers from obscurity)
- Ellen Willmot (who employed 100 garden staff, and burned through a huge fortune, thanks to her passion for plants (dying penniless and alone). Paranoid towards the end of her life, apparently booby-trapped her estate against thieves, and carried a revolver in her handbag.
- Charles Dickens (who became obsessed with a particular flower)
- John Gerrard (a 17th century herbalist, who planted a garden in London City)
About the Authors
Christopher Stocks is a writer, journalist and trainee bell-ringer.
Angie Lewis studied find art and is a regarded artist and printmaker.
