[Alisdair]

My friend has recently bought a property in our rocky alkaline coastal area. She is looking for ideas for a screening tree which should be evergreen, preferably 'umbrella'/'vase' shaped rather than 'pyramidal'/cone shaped and able to withstand long dry periods. It needs to be strong as sometimes we have serious salt laden winds.  
I have suggested a Ceratonia siliqua.  She is not interested in pines or any of the ficus family.
Acacias are too flimsy.  She also needs some tall growing shrubs for the fence line. Ideally they should be able to grow more than two meters.  I have suggested Dodonaea viscosa and also Westringia fruticosa but I think that might be struggling at 2 plus meters.
Can anyone recommend some suitable trees and shrubs please for this difficult area.
My ideas have come to a standstill!

This is a shrubs companion to Pamela's thread on Ideas for screening trees, in the Trees section. Ideas for shrubs welcome here, please!

[MikeHardman]

Well, oleanders can easily make 2m (not the dwarf ones, obviously).

Casuarina is normally a tree, but I have seen it hacked back and shooting again, rapidly forming a hedge. And here (western Cyprus), I have seen it (as a row of trees over 10m tall) forming an impressive windbreak right down to the shoreline. I'm sure it could be grown as a hedge or shrub. Casuarina has been discussed here already, but it would warrant further investigation as there are some caveats, as I vaguely recall.

Tamarisk. Tough as old boots, very firmly anchored and self-sufficient. No problem with limestone or coastal location. However, it might (like Acacia) be considered too flimsy.

[Umbrian]

Atriplex halimus makes a good thick screening hedge and is tolerant of salt laden winds. For those who do not know it the foliage is a silvery grey. Another suggestion at the other end of the colour spectrum is Rhamnus alaternus that has lovely dark green shiny foliage. Both respond well to trimming.

[MikeHardman]

See  http://pender.ces.ncsu.edu/files/library/71/Salt%20Tolerant%20Plants.pdf
That's particularly for North Carolina. But irrespective of the different climate, the salt tolerance ratings are useful, and we can select plants we know 'do' in mediterranean climates.
I note as highly salt tolerant: Pittosporum tobira, Elaeagnus pungens, E. x ebbingii;
and moderately salt tolerant:  Euonymus japonicus,  Pyracantha coccinea

Also - olive.
Some cultivars are reasonably salt-tolerant. Here is one of the many papers on olives and salt tolerance one can find on the internet.
They respond well to pruning, and are wind-firm, so should be able to form a dense windbreak hedge.

[Fleur Pavlidis]

I second Carole in recommending Atriplex halimus. It's a lovely colour, has interesting seed heads which attract birds, comes easily from cuttings and grows anywhere. Of the two plants shown I pruned the one on the left but not that on the right - I can't remember why, probably someone needed dinner and that was as far as I got.
I'd be sorry to see Casaurina hacked back as a hedge, Mike, it's such a nice tree. In the middle of Athens there's a planting of a Quercus, possibly frainetto, which is pruned into little boxes on stalks 1.5 m in height. Horrible. I'll post a photo later.

[MikeHardman]

Fleur,
Your Atriplex halimum looks very green. The ones near me (in the wild, not gardens) are very grey (and not due to dust). Also, to be honest, they look very untidy, scraggly, and rather sparsely leaved shrubs - I would not consider them garden-worthy. Clearly, my opinion is at variance with other posters here. How often we have different experiences!

[Umbrian]

I agree Mike with your comment "how often we have different experiences" which is one reason why gardeneing is satisfying and frustrating at the same time, also compulsive! Often I have admired something in a friend's garden but have found it does not work for me. Sometimes it is just a matter of finding the right spot because even within one's own garden things will flourish or fail for no apparent reason i.e. too much exposure to wind. Atriplex however I have found to do well just about anywhere. To prevent them getting too big, leggy and with small leaves they need to be pruned back quite strongly in the early spring which will result in rapid growth covered in healthy foliage.

[Fleur Pavlidis]

Here are the massacred oak trees.
It was the light that made the Atriplex look green, in fact it's a lovely silver grey. Lots of shrubs which are scraggy in the wild improve beyond recognition once there are cared for in the better conditions of the garden. Others go overboard and become a pest, of course. I remember when I wanted Bituminaria bituminosa for the garden. Now I can't get rid of it.

[Hilary]

How strange to prune oak trees like this
Do you see the red flower the hero of the revolution is holding?
Where a bouts in Athens is this. I don't recognize the building.

[Fleur Pavlidis]

This is General Macrygiannis holding a red rose. To his left is Dionysiou Areopagitou, the pedestrianised street in front of the Acropolis, and behind him is Plaka.

[pamela]

Thank you for your responses so far. Atriplex sounds very interesting, I have seen it in the campo where it does look quite scruffy but not in gardens, or least in Javea.  It looks like it has great potential. Pittosporum tobira grows very well here and is planted a lot.The same goes with Oleander  I am hoping I might get some further suggestions for trees.  I think Tamarisk is a possibility but probably somewhat fragile (or am I wrong?)  There are also two types I am told, decidous and evergreen.  How does one tell the difference if the correct name is not on the tree in the garden centre (which is always the case here).

[MikeHardman]

Tamarisk looks fragile perhaps, but although it is whippy when the stems are of small diameter, they are tough, and that toughness persists when the stems have become stouter.

[MikeHardman]

Umbrian, Fleur, re Atriplex:
Interesting. It makes sense that cultivation could improve the appearance/nature of this plant. FWIW, here's a photo of one of the straggly ones I am familiar with in the wild (not the straggliest, mind).

[John J]

On the subject of Atriplex halimus in cultivation. I've never tried it myself but the photo was taken a few years ago in the garden of the Forestry Dept Visitor Centre in Athalassa Park, Nicosia, where they had it as a fairly low hedge. It looks a different plant to the ones seen in the wild as Mike's photo shows.

[MikeHardman]

Indeed, John.
I think we can consider that point proven.