Ivydene Gardens Plants:
Other Plants for Clay Soils List

Heavy clay soils can be hard to work, but are often rich in nutrients. Select hardy plants and avoid Alpines.

Ferguson's Garden Plant Directory by Nicola Ferguson (ISBN 0 330 26594 6) shows which plants flourish on heavy clay soils.

Action to assist in Clay soil maintenance:-

• Mulch with 4 inch (100mm) deep Organic Matter and Horticultural Grit to improve fertility and drainage (See What is Soil Texture Page in the Soil Section for further details) preferably in the Autumn at least once; then for each of the following 2 years in between the existing plants.
• If starting a new lawn or bed, rotovate the wet clay soil, add the 4 inch layer of mulch and rotavate that in. Heel and rake the ground for a new turf (or to be seeded) lawn, before laying or seeding it. Insert plants in new bed, before installing the irrigation system and then applying a 4 inch layer of this mulch on top of it.
• Mow the existing lawn closely before spreading a 1/4 inch (6mm) deep layer of any sand (Kiln dried Top Dressing is easier to spread, both available from Gardenscape in small bags or in 1 tonne bags) over it, starting in late April. Repeat this each month until July for one season. This will improve the drainage and fertility of the lawn. If the lawn still gets boggy during the next winter, then repeat the process the following summer.
• After the 3rd year of mulching the beds with the Organic Matter and Horticultural Grit, apply a 4 inch deep layer of Spent Mushroom compost as a mulch in the Autumn, and top it up each year after that. This will stop the clay from drying out through the action of sun and wind on its surface, and to provide chalk and carbon to aid in soil formation and fertility.

Most of the plants in this list may not be further detailed in the remainder of the Plants section.

The plants in the Clay Soil Garden Use will be split into the following Soil Types:-

Any

Acid

Alkaline

The garden use list is sorted in the following table under the following height of plant range:-

Below 2 feet in height
Between 2 and 6 feet in height
Above 6 feet in height

In the case of some genera and species, at least two - and sometimes dozens of - varieties and hybrids are readily available, and it has been possible to give only a selection of the whole range. To indicate this, the abbreviation 'e.g.' appears before the selected examples ( for instance, Centaurea cyanus e.g. 'Jubilee Gem'). If an 'e.g.' is omitted in one list, although it appears beside the same plant in other lists, this means that the plant is the only suitable one - or the only readily available suitable one - in the context of that particular list.