I love beach towns. Lake or ocean, doesn’t matter. A small town cozying up to a strip of sand or pebbles along big water is my idea of heaven. Last month, we were very lucky to have visited two beach towns – Sunset Beach near St. Petersburg, Florida and Southampton which is situated along the eastern shore of Lake Huron in southwestern Ontario. Although they’re in different gardening zones (the former is U.S. hardiness zone 10a, the latter is Canadian hardiness zone 6a), they share some remarkably similar characteristics that make many of the gardens in both places utterly charming and absolutely, undeniably beach-y.

Bonus: I shot all these photos in November–not a great gardening season even if you’re steps from the Caribbean. I was really impressed that, despite cloudy skies, frigid temperatures (in Southampton, at least) and virtually no colourful blooms that typically light up a garden in spring and summer, all of these gardens looked great.

If you want to add some beachside flair with year-round interest to your garden, try these 8 ideas.

1. Rope in everything

Three views of a beach side garden in Southampton, ON, featuring a rope and post fence, tall grasses and rocks planted with succulents.

One very popular item I saw was rope used for fencing or simply to accent something. Given the whole docks/boats/mariner vibe going on, rope seemed to be a no-brainer but when I started to think about it, I realized that rope used for fencing is just about the best solution when you want a clearly demarcated line around your garden with maximum flow from private property to public sidewalk. And, of course, you can’t get much beachier than rope and posts. The miniature lighthouse seals the deal.

And note the hens-and-chickens tucked into rocks at the base of the fence. Hens-and-chickens planted in rocks works wonderfully in any garden, especially desert-themed gardens. But when nestled next to a rope and post fence you really get a sense of succulents filling in as sea urchins.

2. Then add three posts and a rope

Three posts roped together is all you need for a garden accent with a decidedly seaside vibe. Photographed in Southampton, ON.

In fact, three posts cut to varying heights and lassoed with a rope were used as garden decor in both beach towns to a ridiculous extent. They were everywhere.

3. And then add some more posts

A row of posts creates a distinctively beach garden-style raised bed in Florida.

Posts were also used a lot for raised beds. I’ve seen posts (or tree trunks) used for raised beds in woodland-themed gardens, desert-themed gardens and even modern, minimalist, urban gardens but throw some posts into a garden that just happens to be right beside a beach and–Bingo!–you’ve got piers-and-docks vibes.

4. When posts aren’t your thing

Two styles of raised garden beds: Left, photographed in Florida; Right, photographed in Southampton, ON.

The use of stone for hardscaping was also big. The two raised beds pictured above are very different in style but both signal beachiness with the plants chosen (succulents, grasses, vining plants) and the mulch used, in these cases small gravel, grit and sand.

Speaking of grass and mulch, what I didn’t see a lot of was grass and bark mulch. These two items are ubiquitous in most southwestern Ontario gardens.

5. Lawns begone

Prostrate conifers are used to evocative effect as a lawn alternative in a garden in Southampton, ON.

I was blown away by the garden pictured above. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know I have mixed feelings about lawns. This garden may just make you want to tear up your front lawn. Low-growing prostrate dwarf conifers are new (to me) as a lawn alternative but I just loved the way these shrubs matted together in undulating waves not unlike, I have to say, a breeze-ruffled lake.

A mixture of tall grasses in a front garden and a road verge in Southampton, ON.

Tall grasses, evocative of beach dunes, were also a big trend in both Southampton and Florida. I love how this gardener didn’t stop at their front lawn but kept the whole theme going right to the edge of the street.

Another trend you might’ve noticed in the photos you’ve seen so far is the use of stone as a ground cover. Everything from sand to grit to gravel to weather-and-water-smoothed rocks, seen above and in Idea #2, were used in beds (raised or otherwise), along paths, used as decorative mulch or in place of lawn.

6. Choose really big pavers

Two gardens in Southampton, ON, used large, uneven pavers in their beach-themed gardens.

Bricks or small, evenly shaped pavers just seem so “English Country Garden” to me now that I’ve seen about a gajillion beach-themed gardens that all used very large, organically shaped pavers for paths, driveways and patios.

7. Driftwood decor

Two gardens in Southampton, ON, use driftwood as decor for their beach-themed gardens.

Coming in a strong second in the beach-themed garden decor category, closely following three posts and a rope, was the use of driftwood. The trellis attached to the garden shed (above, left) will undoubtedly be lovely covered in a flowering climber but how many trellises have you seen that almost qualify as art without a plant in sight.

8. Rethink containers

Left: A staghorn fern in Cedar Key. Right: rubber boots sub in for pots near St. Petersburg, Florida.

Staghorn fern is not a practical option for the Canadian gardener as it needs a warm, humid climate with sunny conditions pretty much all year long. But I love how it looks perfect for a beachside garden and I started thinking about alternatives that might work for us northerners. It struck me that Hart’s Tongue Fern might do the trick. It wouldn’t grow nearly as large and it can be finicky but it has a strappy frond and a spray habit that might just give a northerly beach-themed garden a bit of oomph.

The rubber boots as plant container is not a new idea but what I like about these cute ‘potted’ succulents is that the gardener chose succulents. Besides grasses, succulents may just be the most beachy plants around (also see Idea #1).

I have to admit that I’m cheating a little on the staghorn idea. This particular staghorn fern was shot in Cedar Key, Florida, not Southampton or Sunset Beach. However, Cedar Key is also a small coastal town. There’s no beach to speak of but there are so many other ways Cedar Key can steal your heart.