Hardy plants for clay soil

[yummyscummymummy01]

My garden is absolutely wild at the moment but I'm determined to get it under control and plant some flowers along the border.

The soil is the heavy clay type that's water logged when wet and dry and hard in the summer.

Any suggestions for some flowers to plant? The garden can be quite shaded as we have trees at the back.

Realistically they need to be pretty low maintenance. I've looked at the wild flower mixes but they seem to have mixed reviews!

The wildflower route is long winded and expensive..we have 168 ft long back garden NE facing considerably "improved" with compost and manure. I have fruit trees at the bottom, decided to do a meadow area area them. Had to get the clay up with a pickaxe! Tried wildflower plugs £1 each this was 10 years ago. Tried seed specifically for damp shadey,none germinated. In the end hired a rotivator to remove turf and bought wildflower meadowmat turf, expensive and grass takes over. Because our garden is so big, and unoverlooked,we do get quite a bit of sun, the bottom can be under a couple of inches after heavy rain. I've got "woodland" planting,hardy geraniums the white native ones are happy. Primulas drum stick and candelabra.pulmonaria,hostas. Heuceras, astilbe . Fatsia Japonica,fox gloves,lilly of the valley You may well have to water in very dry weather. In a lot of places DH has made raised beds. We have a lot of rhododendron and azalea and they are soil specific (acidic) The border alongside our bungalow which is about 30 ft long,he dug out the soil to a depth of about 12 inches. 2013, I decided to make a bog garden where it gets underwater, and underneath nextdoors huge fir trees,I dug out,lined with black plastic,pushed in small white pipes,in case I needed to water. Guess what,it dried up. If you get a reasonable amount of sun ,some roses are happy with little, they love the clay

Thank you that's great! Do you grow from seeds? Sorry literally have no idea what I'm doing!

The best thing you can do is improve your soil. In the autumn, add a generous amount of soil improver (like Vitax 6x or similar) - that will break down the clay over winter and improve the soil quality. Also consider adding a thick mulch of compost or bark clippings so your soil retains humidity and stays at a more constant temperature.

That said, lots of plants are perfectly happy in clay soil. Shrubs like Cotinus, Fatsia, Sambucus nigra, salix mount aso, Nandina all do well in clay in shade or semi shade, and shrubs are generally low maintenance and can provide year round structure and interest. Lots of perennials would work too - if looking specifically for shade, Polemonium, Bergenia, ferns, periwinkle, pulmonaria, clematis to name just a few. Astilbe corms are cheap (often 2 for £2 at Morrisons) and they grow quickly if planted in the spring.

I think wild flower mixes tend to work better for sunny areas rather than shade.

Growing from seed can be challenging and slow going, especially in the shade. Lots of plants require warmth to germinate so need to be started indoors. If you can afford it, I’d buy potted plants to get started. Even the 9cm perennial pots will be considerably bigger by the end of the summer and they will look great next year. Shrubs are even more rewarding, the small plants you put in this year could be six foot tall next year.

Just make sure you buy plants that are pest resistant. For instance I have zillions of slugs and snails, so hostas are a no go. Also avoid things that are super invasive. I would never plant bluebells as they will take over everywhere. Or euphorbia as they’re hard to get rid of. The RHS website has lots of useful information.

I had a garden in London which was mostly clay.

I had a rambling rose, Kiftsgate that took over the 30' wire fence at the end that backed onto an industrial estate. It was obviously very happy in clay. So I imagine roses in general would cope.

Hardy geraniums , they grow anywhere , are impossible to kill off and spread like mad . The end of our garden used to be a complete bog all winter ( we’ve sorted it now) and they survived that .

It depends on a few factors like how much sun and what is the shape like, but if this helps at all I built a terraced rockery style garden area in clay soil.
The beauty of the soil is that it holds the rockery stones in position forever.

The area is partly shaded under the trees so all the plants do suffer from long periods of damp and dark but are thriving-

Plants that have thrived include Vinca minor (periwinkle) for ground cover, a large Hosta, Campanula carpatica and another low growing Campanula (can't remember which), hardy geranium, Heuchera, Forget-me-not, and Bergenia.

Plants that haven't done well at all include Hebe, Primroses, Daffodils, Tulips, Anything too tender really.

Get a dalek composter and put it on the clay soil. Then put every bit of kitchen and garden waste in it for 3 months. When you put a bucketful of kitchen and garden waste in it, also add a bucketful of ripped up paper, card, toilet rolls etc. Old statements and bill and paperwork is good to add.

In 3 months take it off, and move it next to where it was and put all the uncomposted stuff at the top back in, and rake the composted stuff over the area to add organic matter. Then plant some plants in that space. Then keep doing that until the whole area you want to improve has had the dalek on it for at least 3 months.

If you can fill it quicker, and it heats up, then you can reduce that to a month. Just keep moving, and turning it back into itself and adding to it.

It may take the full summer season this year, but it will be worth it in the long run.

And that creates its own problems - geraniums completely took over my garden and they are impossible to kill, I had to resort to weedkiller (😮 I know, shoot me now but lesson learnt!) - don't do it unless you are happy with that one plant everywhere!

I have a north facing heavy clay soil garden in London and these plants have done well:

• hydrangea
• lilac tree
• camelia
• rhododendron

If you are not a gardener and are not very interested in gardening and just want it to look better then shrubs and the toughest perennials that give good ground cover are the way to go - hydrangea, choisia, hardy geraniums, epimidium, camellias are the easiest ones to find. Ferns, epimidium, pulmonaria, anything you can get for free from a friends garden are also good bets. Key is minimum bare earth. Roses will love it but are not good ground cover.

Also maximum grass and regular mowing (think of it like hoovering) will keep things looking neat and tidy.

I totally agree that the best thing you can do for your soil is mulch it.

I garden on very heavy clay and every year I add bark chippings to the borders. A 5cm deep layer the first year and then I just top it up annually now. It rots down and improves the soil and also helps to stop it baking hard in the summer.

The plants that do best in my garden are roses, hydrangeas and hardy geraniums (Rozanne and similar.) All of these are very easy to grow. Also easy shrubs like Viburnum Tinus, Aucuba, Forsythia, ceanothus and Choisya do well on my clay.

I've got clay and some of its shady /waterlogged. But I'm hesitant to recommend much that I've got as 'low maintenance' as the stuff that's growing there tends to grow well and need a lot of hacking back!

Thanks so much for all the suggestions, have only just seen them!

Roses especially David Austin ones do well
peonies
japanese anemonies
Chinese lanterns ( be careful they go rampant if not strictly controlled but beautiful orange lanterns in autumn)
magnolia tree
buddelia
crosomia