This dataset presents plant percentage cover by species, average plant cover and species richness for sites along the foredune area of sites distributed between Cape Canaveral (Florida) and Tybee Island (Georgia), USA. Plant cover by species was sampled on three occasions using 0.5 x 0.5m quadrats distributed along 3 transects at up to 28 sites. Observations were conducted in February 2018, July 2018, and January 2019. The coastline was impacted by Hurricane Irma in October 2017 and the data were collected to look at plant composition in coastal foredunes undergoing recovery from the hurricane. The data were collected as part of NERC grant NE/R016593/1, Resilience of a coastal ecosystem following hurricane Irma. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/100af68f-78e2-4b9d-86b9-5777a5ef38fa