Best Plants for Clay

[RachelR]

Does anyone have any experience with clay soil and the best plants for clay around a pond area?

 

[addy1]

We have clay, we have shale, I dig holes, put the plants in, stomp on the dirt and they usually live. You can buy some compost and manure from the store and mix with the clay dug out of the hole to help them get a jump start.

 

[Lisak1]

I agree with @addy1 - we have heavy clay soil and have learned over the years to amend, amend, amend. Then we use a lot of mulch and over time that clay soil has become beautiful, rich, black, and teeming with worms! Our entire yard was scraped down to the clay when our house was built so we've been building the soil back up for 30 years. It takes time. But getting plants in the ground is definitely possible. Like addy said, dig a hole bigger than you need and add some good soil, some compost, some manure - anything to feed the plant as it grows - and they will do fine.

 

[RachelR]

We have clay, we have shale, I dig holes, put the plants in, stomp on the dirt and they usually live. You can buy some compost and manure from the store and mix with the clay dug out of the hole to help them get a jump start.

What kind of plants do you use?

 

[RachelR]

I agree with @addy1 - we have heavy clay soil and have learned over the years to amend, amend, amend. Then we use a lot of mulch and over time that clay soil has become beautiful, rich, black, and teeming with worms! Our entire yard was scraped down to the clay when our house was built so we've been building the soil back up for 30 years. It takes time. But getting plants in the ground is definitely possible. Like addy said, dig a hole bigger than you need and add some good soil, some compost, some manure - anything to feed the plant as it grows - and they will do fine.

What kind of plants have you had success with?

 

[addy1]

What kind of plants do you use?

Anything I find at Lowes, home depot that catches my eye. I do a lot of seeds also, cone flowers, bee balm, etc.
10 years later it is sort of a wild grow, what grows grows. We raise bees so whatever the bees, native bees, bugs like gets to stick around.

 

[Lisak1]

What kind of plants have you had success with?

You name it - literally our whole yard is solid red clay. The only topsoil we had was scraped when they built our house. Trees, bushes, perennials, vegetables, annuals... we grow it all. If you're talking specifically around the pond, we've used a number of ground covers like ajuga, vinca, various sedums... it all grows great if you amend the soil .