What are good plants for salty, sandy roadside conditions in Maine?

Question

I live in Maine (USDA hardiness zone 5). My lawn has a 5-10' deep mostly-dead area along most of the curb. It stretches maybe 50 or 60 feet. Last year I attempted to get grass to grow there without much success. I'm interested in alternative ideas.

The area gets a lot of salt and sand during the winter as the plows pile snow upon it, and after the snow melts I need to rake the sand back down onto the road (the town eventually sweeps the streets). It's on the south side and is in full sun.

Any suggestions for plants that can take a beating like that and come back happily year after year? I have some hostas around that seem pretty durable. Daylilies? Ideally, something that looks nice that I don't have to put in a lot of work to make it grow (though I don't mind some maintenance.

Answer 1

Phew, bit of a tall order really. Your day lilies, if they survive in your garden already, are worth a try - they are, to some extent, salt resistant. Yucca glauca is worth a look too, but the trouble is, they don't like sitting in wet soil in winter, or any time really. I guess I don't need to tell you you have the most difficult situation possible there - very cold in winter with lots of added salt heaped over leaves means there are very few plants, if any, that will tolerate those circumstances. There are other plants that might have done, but not in Zone 5, unfortunately.

Your only other option is to choose summer plants which you take out when winter arrives, but even those would need some salt resistance because the soil will contain it. Lampranthus spectabilis, Pelargoniums and Carpobrotus chilensis should cope, but it doesn't exactly fit the bill from a low maintenance point of view, because you'd have to plant yearly. Otherwise, I can only suggest laying some paving along there.