Plants for clay soil

Plants that cope with clay soil, with size and aspect for each.

Heavy clay is cold and slow to warm in spring, sticky when wet and rock-hard when dry, but it is fertile and holds nutrients well once you work with it. Never dig or plant when it is waterlogged, as you will smear the structure into an airless pan. Open it up with coarse grit and bulky organic matter forked into the top spit, and plant in autumn or spring when it is moist but workable. Plant slightly proud and mulch thickly. Many robust, deep-rooting plants relish clay's reserves of moisture and food. The choices here are tough customers that establish well in heavy ground and will not rot off in a wet winter.

Border Builder is a garden border planner for iPhone and iPad. Pick from the 697 plants below and it works them into a full plan: how many of each, where they go, and how the bed reads through the seasons.

697 plants for this

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