Fed-up with everything dying - please suggest some unkillable plants

[gardenersos]

Whilst the established plants in my garden do alright, it seems like anything new that I plant just withers and dies. I've just spent close to £100 on new plants - including a dahlia, daisies and verbena to name a few - and some of them are already looking a bit forlorn. I appreciate the weather is very hot at the moment, but I've been watering them daily (spending about two minutes with the hose trained on the base of each plant - is that enough?) The verbena is looking especially droopy.

My soil type is clay but I've used a fork to break up all the compacted bits and I think it's in quite a good state as a result.

Anyway, I'm feeling really despondent and fed-up. I have decided to forget pretty flowers and go for the hardiest shrubs possible that even I should be able to keep alive.

Can anyone suggest some shrubs that need very little maintenance, are happy in clay soil and are practically unkillable? Evergreen would be ideal so that I get some colour over winter, but it's not essential.

I simply can't afford to spend any more money on plants that just die!

Thanks in advance.

Is something like this an option?

www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/pinus-mugo-mughus-dwarf-mountain-mugho-pine

I forgot to say that most of my garden gets full sun for about three hours a day - does that mean I need plants that like partial shade?

It's utterly impossible to kill one of these...

www.bloomingartificial.co.uk/categories/outdoor-artificial-plants?gclid=CjwKCAjwq5-WBhB7EiwAl-HEklp_bse5FS9lZ6MH1mS7oeGBrfRA9eGTPDMjJTefgIXmmMOx5u2_7hoCjJoQAvD_BwE

Plants need to be soaked atm. My seedlings need at least twice a day. established plants will be okay as they have long roots but anything new needs a good soak.

Online search for "RHS Clay soils/plants for" will give you a nice list of plants that should do well. I think it takes a good bit more than breaking the soil up with a fork to improve clay soil. It quickly turns to concrete in hot weather. As a band-aid ,if you are planting, dig nice big hole, add compost to hole,plant in the compost. Add a mulch of wood chips in autumn. You have my sympathy. I have a very sandy soil ,a bad back from lugging compost, and an astonishing kill rate. Gardeners' World meets CSi and loses.

Could you be overwatering? I have a verbena in a pot that comes back to life every year and only gets watered every 2-3 days. We have hotter summers and colder winters than the U.K. too.

In the garden I have clay soil and have a Japanese fern that I saved when a friend cleared her garden for parking space It established very quickly in a hastily chosen spot and does well with rare watering (it's on the damper side of the garden but gets lots of sun). It starts to lose its colour around this time of year but is glorious in spring/early summer.

We also inherited roses that are doing well (and a forsythia... too late for you to enjoy this year though).

It is your clay soil that is the problem. You need to dig in some good manure or compost to change the texture. Water just runs off - you need something to lighten it.

I believe roses do well in clay. I planted some knockout roses as they’re one of the few plants that survived an unexpected snowfall a couple of years back and are blooming everywhere I look in summer

Check out what seems to be growing well in the neighbour's gardens, they'll have the same soil as you.

I think astrantias and astilbes do well on clay.

I have clay, and the following all grow without too much attention: roses, crab apple trees, viburnum, fats is japonica in shady areas. But my garden is basically roses with some perennials thrown in. Verbena does well and grows huge. I also like climbers, climbing roses, honeysuckle, and clematis. I add rotted manure mulch all the time, and my soil has greatly improved.

Fatsia japonica in shaded areas...

Three hours sun is not enough for many flowering plants, unfortunately. You might want to focus on hosta and similar.

Can you put the purchased stuff in pots and move to sunny location for this season?

nasturtiums, will grow everywhere and come back year after year?

For clay soil, azaleas and camellias.

I planted some of the lowgrowing patio roses in my daughters clay garden. They were really nice and flowered over a long period. I had a good show of Japanese Anemones (they flower late summer) in clay soil, also daphne (a bit boring in my view but can have lovely scent) and wisteria (which can get huge).

My soil type is clay but I've used a fork to break up all the compacted bits and I think it's in quite a good state as a result.

It's really not quite that simple I'm afraid. If it was, nobody would have problem soil!

The problem with clay is the tiny particles stick together and creates a mass like plasticine. Water cannot penetrate it easily. When you break up the mass with a fork, it becomes smaller lumps that congeal back together in time. To prevent this happening, you have to dig in two types of material, sharp sand and grit, plus organic matter. This last is rotted leaves, compost, manure, mulch. You need lots, not just a bagful.

Clay soil is hard work to improve and you do have to keep adding organic matter and grit to it every year. It is rich in minerals and roses do love it, but you still have to improve the drainage and friability of it to grow plants successfully. Most plants have a preference for "well-drained, fertile soil". Obviously you can't dig down to the water table but try to get as deep as you can.

I really sympathise with you, our area had a brickfield and factory as the soil was so full of clay. I have had bulbs rot in the ground because of poor drainage (I have been working on it since!). So it is worthwhile improving your soil as much as you can before you spend any big bucks on lovely shrubs. You can't do anything about the levels of direct sun but you can improve the soil at least.

Geranium rozanne seems to take off anywhere.

thickly mulching (really thick, half a foot or so) every autumn or winter after heavy rains will also improve soil with less digging. Have seen promulch recommended here but garden compost etc also works.

Nothing has killed my hydrangea even several years of neglect and only surviving on rain water.

Also my bay tree did well but that's huge and unless you have a large garden I wouldn't recommend one of those.

I have clay soil, OP. My village used to be on an island in the Tay, before the river moved course to the south of us, so it’s solid river clay that sets like concrete in hot summers.
I find that rhododendrons, azaleas, roses, honeysuckle, hydrangeas, viburnum, buddleia, fuchsia, heather, lavender, weigelia, spirea, hostas, scabious, foxgloves, artemisia, snapdragons, wallflowers and all bulbs (bluebells, daffodils, snowdrops, lily of the valley, etc) do well on it, provided I dig in some of my compost heap each year. The rhodies and azaleas also enjoy a feed with ericaceous compost.