What about Euonymus, like 'Emerald Gaiety' ? For a pic, see for ex. http://www.naturehills.com/new/product/shrubs_productdetails.aspx?proname=Burning+Bush+-+Emerald+Gaiety I believe that Euonymus are pretty adaptable to soil conditions (my parents grow some and their soil is about as heavy in clay as you can get). I also think that the cream edging on the leaves would look good with the color of your house, it's evergreen, and you can prune it or not (full height is about 3 feet, I think). So it would cover the foundation but not overpower the house.

Hey Elisa ! Great project there you're participating in ! There are projects like that on our coasts too. There's one I'm familiar with and much bermuda grass has been planted. I can provide with that, I've got quite a lot in my garden, but then so has Tox and I guess he won't mind sharing ;-) The bermuda is growing right there in the sand, sometimes in a mat of dead algae full of salt, no much rain and when there is it is a lot, and this grass is doing a good job rebuilding the dunes. There's also a nice bush that is used which is sea buckthorn, or scientific name hippophae ramnoides. It's a real nice bush with orange fruits in winter, and it grows in sand and doesn't mind salt. On top of that sea buckthorn fixes nitrogen like legumes so it helps the grass underneath. If you're the one with the cash then you can choose to hold the dune and feed the birds with nice bushes ! Only downside of sea buckthorn is that it is a dioecious bush, you need males and females to get fruits, and I think it must be watered the first year it is planted so as to settle properly in the sand. As for building houses where they're going to be washed away or flooded... not really dumbness, but rather greed ;-)Those nice views of the sea from the windows are worth millions aren't they, until it's the underworld and the fish one can see from the windows !

I don't really have specific experience, but just generally I would say the following: 2 inches deep is probably not necessary, I usually have ended up being able to see the apricot pits that I have germinated near the surface of the soil once settling has occurred in the pot. Near the surface like that it does not take long for the shoot to become visible. I would go with lots of light, and not worry too much about the medium, as long as it is good for other plants it should be fine for beach plum. They should be able to tolerate plenty of summer heat, the most impressive stands of the species I'm familiar with are in Cape May, NJ. Overwintering success in the garage would depend on specific temps, so as to ensure proper chilling requirements are met. If your garage gets down into the 40's most winter nights, you would probably be fine. In that case, you would water infrequently (a couple times a month), just enough to keep the roots from totally drying out. Have fun!

In general, 2 trees can be 50ft apart and pollinate each other without any problems. If the type of fruit tree is common in the surrounding neighborhood, the trees can be much further apart than that, because a visiting bee is likely to have some pollen on it from another tree somewhere in the neighborhood. The only time there may be trouble is if the 2 trees are very young and do not produce many blossoms. If they do not attract a sufficient number of bees, the chances of cross-pollination may be too low and the trees would have produced more fruit if they had been planted right next to each other. Having many plants that attract bees can help compensate for this. As a hypothetical example, if you have 2 young cherry trees that are planted 52ft apart, both of which need a pollinator and neither has many blossoms, the blossoms are more likely to set fruit if there is a mature apple tree in the middle (one which blossoms at the same time as the cherries), because the blossoming apple tree will attract many bees to the surrounding area. This is just my opinion not based on any hard facts, but in general if you are planting 2 fruit trees and you want lots of fruit within the first 4 years, you should probably plant them within 15-20ft of each other for maximum pollination. You can also just graft on another beach plum (assuming it was not clonally propagated from the same line) onto the same tree to make it self-fruitful. This may be the best option for you. In many years when the trees have become larger and more mature, pollination will not be an issue anymore.