seaside themed planter

[SarfEasticated]

Hi ladies,
I have a bag of seashells that I would like to use in a seaside themed planter. Can you give me some plant suggestions? Planter hasn't been bought yet, so any size, and it will be in full sun on our deck. I'm thinking Whitstable meets Dungeness, rather than anything flash, but planter will be in London so no sea air. Any ideas?
I use to go the BBC website for plant info but it seems to closed down - what sited do you use for inspiration and advice?
Thanks in advance :)

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

I've never seen Rosemary and Thyme but feel FK's earlier work in The Good Life might inspire and inform some of the MN Gardeners' Government's policies on sustainable agriculture. Should we limit ourselves, though, to bustling around pretty villages? I thought we had rather grander ambitions entailing eventual world domination and Liberty prints all round not least, our Very Important Policy on requiring young men to pull their trousers up.

[SarfEasticated]

oh maude have just seen 'Rosemary and Thyme' on ITV3 - I feel that could be us! (I would want to be FK if poss but we could swap) - Hilarious. We wouldn't necessarily fight crime, but we could bustle around pretty villages organising things? What do you think?

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Ah no, I haven't quite committed to buying from Toast. Will it be de rigueur for our working wardrobe once we are running the Beeb? Your programming ideas sound good, although we must also find space and time for Nigel Slater. And create an additional BBC Bonnet Channel for endless reruns of P&P, N&S and Jane Eyre with lovely Toby Stephens.

I wouldn't even mind keeping EastEnders, to remind people of how things used to be before the MN Benevolent Dictatorship came to utterly reasonable power.

[SarfEasticated]

We wouldn't even have to work the whole year!
I think we could do very well at the beeb Maude. Eastenders would be gone like a shot - far too depressing - Kirsty and Monty would be prime time viewing and I would show some Alan Bennet for our more 'regional viewers'. HFW would be good too, possible some Nigella after the watershed. Ahh you've given me a lot to think about - my viewing favourites... I do enjoy our little chats Maude - did you ever buy any Toast by the way?

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Oh dear, Sarf.

Actually, I have a plan. Do you fancy a job-share? Have you got any experience in the meeja? There seems to be a vacancy now in a large public sector organisation and a 50/50 split on a £450,000 salary will probably see us right. I get the impression that the National Trust only lets its properties to the Right Sort, so if we get the job we'll probably get the house too.

I favour North and South when I need some uplifting bonnet action.

[SarfEasticated]

Can we lodge a formal complaint Maude? Maybe the national trust haven't received our letters? Maybe we should take slightly more direct action and just move into Sissinghurst. I think Vita would approve of a whacking great playhouse plonked in the middle of her white garden! maybe I need to watch 'pride and prejudice' again.

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

::Similar apologies for not having come back sooner::

Hmm. We have similar problems. I really ought to be living in a huge Arts and Crafts house with authentic Morris & Co furniture and an immense garden, and yet somehow it hasn't happened.

Could you got to Kew to absorb some of their autumn colour?

I'm glad that Rugosa loves her playmansion, though.

[SarfEasticated]

Ah Maude, my apologies for lack of update about the playhouse - it's up, it's huge, there is no room for plants apart from a tiny window box I will put some gerberas in in the spring. My spatial awareness let me down somewhat, and it is actually takes up much more space on our deck than I thought. Rugosa loves it, and wants her bed moved out there. I might cluster the pot-bound Agapanthus around it in the summer, but my fantasy of a sandy planter will remain as a fantasy. Think that the local cats would use it a loo anyway even if I did.
For some reason I can't quite fathom, our earnings won't buy us a lovely detached house in Hampstead with large wooded garden (Freud's house would be nice - after a lot of decluttering though), so our small garden isn't giving much autumnal colour at the mo. I am feeling rather despondent.

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

::Anxious for news::

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Hmm. Maybe it falls within the scope of permitted development? Or would it be a temporary structure and therefore exempt?

[SarfEasticated]

I wonder if I need planning permission for a band stand...

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Oh definitely a brass band, to give a rousing rendition of ^Oh I do like to be beside the seaside in Brassica. And perhaps a local confectioner would make some Brassica rock?

It is only a matter of time before MN rules the world, I feel.

[SarfEasticated]

and possibly a brass band? Hmm I wonder if there is time to build a bandstand...
I must say maud it's lovely to find a kindred spirit on here, I wonder what else in the world needs our touch...

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

How about one of those boards depicting comically fat figures in striped bathing suits, with holes for visitors to poke their heads through, to provide an amusing photographic souvenir of their visit?

[SarfEasticated]

Well maud I don't want to go 'overboard' with the nautical theme (titters) but I think some well chosen accessories would be appropriate - donkey rides perhaps? Nothing too ostentatious though. Maybe a commemorative cocktail...

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

I look forward to the unveiling ceremony, SarfEast. Will there be jaunty bunting with a nautical/coastal theme?

[SarfEasticated]

Well hello ladies . I have just come back from special operations a weekend in Whitstable where I took the opportunity to observe seaside plants in their natural environment. Very pleasant. So I shall attempt to recreate the 'spirit' of a Tankerton beach hut, in a small garden in urban Brassica. I think I should be able to pull it off. Just need to find a nice playhouse for the girlchild, and half a ton of marine aggregate. The Telegraph article is just what I was looking for thank you unrequited skink the plants are lovely. Obviously we are still very much in the planning stage but I plan to open it to the public in the spring I think, may need to get a stuffed seagull to really finish it off nicely. Wonder how long it will last before the foxes try to eat it!

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

I was at the seaside this weekend plotting our coup and wondered how SarfEast's planter was coming on.

[UnrequitedSkink]

I've just seen this article about a seaside garden - gives a good list of relevant planting at the bottom. And not a mattress in sight. Bloody posho Telegraph

[SarfEasticated]

not everyone will share our vision Maud, poor souls.

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Looks like the revolution may encounter some resistance!

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Some of us, SarfEast, have ::cough:: already infiltrated the WI. I believe there's a branch not unadjacent to your home, too.

[SarfEasticated]

Too true Maud, I'm all for taking over Europe, but you are the voice of reason. We can only do so much, mustn't spread ourselves too thin, our people need us. We have much to do: manners; decency; standards... where to start? Maybe we need to enlist the WI?

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Oh yes to the Liberty print tricouleur!

But do the Swiss need us, SarfEast? I suspect there are other nations in greater need of being bossed about by English [forgive the presumption] women our benevolent guidance. The French, for example. Wonderful country but dog poo-a-gogo.

[SarfEasticated]

Thanks Bertie, I like alpines too, good idea.

maud and grockle do you think we should take over Switzerland too? Handy for clocks and chocolate?