What can I plant in clay soil?

[Lovemusic33]

Last year I planted quite a few plants. Some have survived but many have died (though May come back), during the summer my soil is pretty solid and dry so things struggle to root. Things that have survived are dog wood, buddleia and jasmine, I have a few Fox gloves springing up at the bottom of the garden but a lot of my other plants have struggled. I also planted raspberries and gooseberries but only one gooseberry bush has survived (though doesn’t look healthy) the raspberries just didn’t root. I grow veg and bulbs in raised beds and planters but would love to be able to grow some bigger plants/shrubs direct in the ground. Any ideas what to plant?

I had to put a lot of compost, manure, spent mushroom compost and leaf mould on my borders to stop stuff struggling in heavy clay. I put a lot of all that on every winter and let the worms drag it down, really helped.

Stuff that’s done well, sometimes surprisingly. Roses, lavender, aquilegia, ....annuals cerinthe, calendula, cosmos, asters.

You might do better planting in autumn not spring, give chance for roots to establish before the spring drought that we’ve been having recently. All the things you’ve mentioned I’ve grown successfully in Clay. I just avoid plants requiring free draining soil.

Things that do well in our clay:

Hydrangeas, these are growing brilliantly
Acers
Hostas
Ferns
Magnolias
Pulmonaria
Solomon's Seal

For me on clay, lupin, day lilly, yarrow, bulbs- glads did well, as do narcissi and tulips. Oriental poppies, aster monch, as said above when planting put in lots of compost, well rotted manure so they have a nice little bed to grow in. I put bark on top which the worms drag down and makes the soil more friable

Take a walk round the area and note what does well in the local gardens.

And blackcurrants do really really well and gooseberries.

I have a patch with really heavy clay that goes rock solid from early summer. I finally dug it up and added compost and sand to soften it last month but for the past few years it's had a massive rhubarb, a cabbage tree and hyacinth bulbs that won't stop multiplying.

We have an awful damp clay patch and the thing that has thrived is an aster.

We have acidic clay soil, when we moved in the garden had been abandoned so things I noticed that grew without any care whatsoever:
Rhododendron
Lilac
Holly
Spanish bluebells (controversial though so wouldn't freely introduce)

Roses love clay. Geums, verbena bonariensis, yarrows, rudbeckia also do great in my garden.

Blueberries do fabulously well...they love the acidic soil
Azaleas do well
Dogwood trees
Gardenias...almost any variety
A second vote for hydrangeas
Forsythia
Roses
Weeping willow tree
Oak trees
Evergreen trees
Lantana
Camellia
Butterfly bush
Hosta
Good luck!

Thank you, would love a weeping willow tree. My gardens a good size so o could do with some bigger plants /small trees, I planted what I thought would be fast grow ing plants last year but because of how hard the ground was during the summer things just didn’t thrive. I’m hoping the butterfly Bush will do well this year, the dog wood is thriving (2nd year) but the more delicate plants just don’t survive. I want to dig out a bigger bed along the fence, I need to do this before the ground turns rock hard and then add a few more plants.

Add more mulch, manure, etc than you think possible. It really helps. And you have to water a lot in summer, a deep drink for each plant at night or the morning till they are established and away. Not a sprinkle.

I’ve been improving my clay soil for 10 years now, and it’s like a different garden.

My street is all on solid solid clay and gravel, shrubs and medium sized perennials that do well in mine and neighbour gardens:
Roses
Philadelphus
Forsythia
Sumac
Lilac
Cotoneaster
Buddleia
Bay
Hebe
Rosemary
Euphorbia
St. John's wort

I have also had success with some plants that want free draining soil by either digging out a large hole and replacing with a mix of garden clay soil, compost and sand/gravel, and/or planting in slightly raised beds (like only 5cm higher than ground level). In this way I have happy thriving Mediterranean herbs.

I have tried to be nosey as to what neighbours have in their gardens but hardly anyone on my road seem to have nice gardens, most are messy, overgrown with brambles (which are growing into my garden) or have built extensions and sheds that fill most of their garden 🤣, next door does have a rose bush that needs cutting back but other than that all I can see is weeds, weeds grow really well in my soil.

I think I will go for some roses, would love plants that the bees like, I do have cat mint but I’m not sure if it’s dead or if it will come back to life in summer?

Catmint is another which does well around here and mine is currently underground so give that a while to come back.

Bees like single and more open roses!

You can get some indication of what will grow by looking at weeds. If brambles grow well then you've got a good chance with the rest of the family - blackberries, tayberries, loganberries, raspberries and the various ornamental species. Herb Robert growing well means you have a good chance with the rest of the hardy geraniums, and so on.

But from the things you say have failed, I think your problem is more that they didn't get established, with deep roots, before the soil dried out. As well as avoiding planting in the spring and summer, follow the advice on mulching. All your weeds will give you an excellent start on a compost heap.

Cat mint should be beginning to show tiny new shoots soon, if it's still alive.

And now is the perfect time to plant bare root roses (I have a whole other thread full of David Austin rose lust going on )

Oooh blatantly watching OP as I'm like you and have a few gaps that I want to fill with shrubs that flower as we already have a few normal shrubs in our clay soil.

Lavender and rosemary thrive in ours as do cordylines (sp?) bizarrely. I want to get a couple of pink ones this summer to contrast with our newly painted grey fence.

Can I ask others - is an aster a shrub or flower? And is it annual or perennial? I love how they look (not the ones with black centres, they look like eyes and give me the heeby jeebies).

I have clay soil and add compost and mulch every autumn and spring and over the years it has improved. Things that have grown well for me are:-

Viburnum
Lavender
Roses
Acer
Rhodedendron
Hydrangea
Erysimum bowles mauve (this one is gorgeous - the bees love it and it flowers about 10 months of the year -only lasts about 3-5 years)
Persicaria firetail (again gorgeous and the bees are constantly all over it - I planted 5 in a clump and it grew into a 1.5m bush)

Snowdrops
Hellebores
Nigella
Flowering currant
Periwinkles
ivy

I'm on heavy clay, got Apple and Laburnum trees, blackcurrants, bleeding heart, dogwood, clematis (line the hole with sand), hostas, aquilegia, poppies, mint, cherry blossom, tulips, anemones and lots of lavender. My Buddleia is fantastic too. You will definitely need to try and dig in some horse manure and/or compost as early as possible too, it's that or grow potatoes for a year to break up the soil!

I just thought of another fun tree or shrub, @Lovemusic33.
A miniature bottlebrush for a shrub or the larger tree variety bottlebrush.
It flowers and they actually do look like a red bottle brush! Our neighbours have the larger tree vsriety and the bees and hummingbirds love it....it actually buzzes with their activity.
Another plus is that it looks like a weeping willow with the branches gracefully hanging down. I'm in the Western US along the coast so the tree blooms all year....it is very hardy! Practically growing on the side of a hill in the most rotten clay/sand soil you can imagine....
I think the tip that the pp gave about planting in the autumn and making sure the tree/shrub is established is the key to success
The tree doesn't get gigantic...less than about 6m tall...the branches just get fuller.