Great Highway is a long street that runs parallel to Ocean Beach and the Pacific Ocean. Homes along the Great Highway face west and there’s little buffer from the elements, just a large man-made berm and Highway 1. With extreme conditions such as fog, salt-laden air, and high winds, growing a garden full of plants can be challenging. Since a sea coast plant palette needs to be adapted to life at the coast, sticking with tried and true plants can go a long way to your success!
Lots of succulents do very well in extreme coastal conditions. So do numerous Mediterranean climate-adapted plants.
Below is a photo story of the planting project…
Preparing the Planting Beds

After plant/weed removal pure sand at the coast needs to be amended. Delivery is scheduled for the next day.

Soil amendment being delivered. Judy is particularly thrilled. 🙂

Front bed with a low mound following soil amendment and watering.
Planting and Pathway Time!

Each plant – mostly 1 gallons and 5 gallon size, needs to be protected in mesh gopher baskets. This choice by Grow Masters speeds up the process as compared to other products on the market. Gophers can be a real buzz-kill to the garden, and this can include SF neighborhoods like Ocean Beach, the Richmond and Sea Cliff.

Here’s an example of the flexible mesh wire gopher baskets by Grow Master to prevent tunneling gophers from chewing away at plant roots.

Some goodies for the project.

Planting is complete. Now it’s the pathway…tamping down decomposed granite prior to spreading pebbles and adding pavers. Sea coast vibe with interesting succulent plants.

Red-tailed hawks on lamp posts are a common sight here as they’re on the lookout for their favorite gophers meals.

You can see the mesh gopher basket surrounding the plant. This step is critical for this planting as tunneling gophers chew away at plant roots. We also used ultrasonic solar powered gopher repellents.
Planting and Path Complete
Succulents come in so many unusual shapes and textures and many resemble plants from the ocean. Great for the sea cost vibe!

Planting, pathway and mulching complete.

Another view.

A combination of succulents, perennials and shrubs tolerant of sea coast conditions.

San Francisco sea coast planting.

Yellow flowering Achillea, Calandrinia, pink flowering Armeria and Limonium.

A look at the street walking back from the beach.

Great Highway – Built in 1929, it runs for approximately 3.5 miles next to Ocean Beach and the Pacific ocean; it also forms the city’s western edge along the Pacific Ocean.
Plant List
Succulents Plants:
Aeonium ‘Sunburst’ variegated
Aloe striata (Coral Aloe) – Low growing plant with coral-red flowers. S. Africa native.
Aloe artisana – S. Africa native.
Aloe x nobilis (Golden Toothed Aloe.) – Small clumps with orange flowers.
Agave guadalajarana
Calandrinia spectabilis – Magenta blooms much of year
Delosperma (Ice plant) -with red/yellow flowers
Dudleya traskiae -(Live Forever.) Tightly clumping blue grey leaves and yellow flowers. CA native.
Dudleya hassei -(Live Forever.) Tightly clumping, cylindrical greyish leaves. CA native.
Echeveria ‘Perle Von Nurnberg’ – (Echeveria.) – Greyish lavender rosettes. Mexico native.
Echeveria imbricata – (Echeveria.) – Broad blue-gray rosettes, pink edges. Coral/yellow flowers. Mexico native.
Euphorbia ‘Sticks on Fire’
Sedum r. ‘Angelina’ – Spreading with golden leaves and flowers. Hybrid.
Sempervivum – Small succulent rosettes.
Senecio serpens – (Blue Chalksticks.) Short narrow grayish-blue succulent leaves. S. Africa native.
Perennial/Shrub Ground Cover Plants:
Armeria maritima -( Sea thrift. ) – Low grassy mound with light pink flowers in round heads. California native.
Achillea ‘King Edward’ (Yarrow.)
Arctostophylos ‘Emerald Carpet’ – Compact, prostrate shiny leaves, white flowers, CA native.
Ceanothus ‘Diamond Heights’ – Low growing, ceanothus with yellow variegated leaves. CA native.
Cistus salviifolius – (Rockrose.) – White flowers, low mounding. Mediterranean region native.
Helianthemum nummularium – (Sunrose.) – Assorted- white, rose and yellow flowering. Mediterranean region native.
Grasses and Grass-Like Plants:
Lomandra ‘Breeze’ – Narrow leaves. Size: 2′-3′ h x 2′ – 3′ w. NZ native.
Phormium ‘Maori Chief’ – (Flax.) Upright arching to 4’h. Bronze leaves, rosy pink margins. NZ native.
Phormium ‘Jack Spratt’ – (Flax.) Small upright to 18″. Narrow twisting reddish brown leaves. NZ native.
Chondropetalum tectorum – Clumps of narrow dark green stems; under 3′ h. S. Africa native.
Anigozanthos ‘Bush Ranger’ – (Kangaroo paw.) – To 1′, orange red flowers. AU native.
Anigozanthos ‘Bush Gold’ – (Kangaroo paw.) – To 2′, orange buds, gold flowers. AU native.
Yucca ‘Blue Boy’- Purplish leaves 2′ + long with white flowers in spikes. Hybrid.
Cordyline ‘Design a Line Burgundy’ – (Grass Palm.) – Narrow burgundy leaves. NZ native.
Shrubs:
Leucadendron ‘Jester’ – Screening plant for neighbor’s recycling bins. Variegated foliage, red bract flowers, winter.
Leucadendron ‘Little Bit’ – Low shrub with very cheery yellow cone flowers, late winter. S. Africa native.
Dodonea purpurea – (Purple leaved hop-bush.)
Perennials:
Salvia leucantha ‘Midnight’ – (Mexican sage.) Purple flowers. Mexico native.
Limonium perezii – (Statice.) Triangular shaped leaves + tall purple flowers. Mediterranean region native.

Starfish ornament near the Cliff House, SF.
Happy Gardening!
Nicole