Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Plants for clay soil
I just talked about how to love your clay soil… let’s talk today about plants that “love”/like/tolerate clay soil!
One of my favorites is Aster. The fall blooming, pollinator attracting, native handles clay while delivering plenty of small daisy-like flowers till frost. AND, they’re hardy to zone 3. There are different kinds of asters, check the tags!
Rudbeckia hirta, aka, Blackeyed susans are another zone 3 fall blooming plant. There are a LOT of cultivars. Be sure to check the zone tolerance on the plant tag! Some are only hardy to zone 5.
Blazing Star and Butterfly Weed are also natives AND hardy to zone 3. They are pollinator attractors too. This is sounding an awful lot like my butterfly garden plants! There are cultivars of each of these. Check the particulars on the tags!
Canada Wild Rye grass is pretty cool looking. It’s a clump-forming, cool-season grass with a gentle arching habit. It’s easy to grow from seed and can adapt to a variety of soils and conditions. The plant is even tolerant of drought and air pollution.
Canada wild rye is also known to be virtually disease-free and isn’t bothered by bugs. If you need to plant something that is going to establish across a large space quickly, it’s a good choice.
Purple coneflowers and daylilies also tolerate clay.
Sea Holly is a plant that fascinates me. A low-maintenance perennial with striking purple-blue flowers that look like small glowing thistles. I tried it but it didn’t make it. Not sure why… It’s not a holly but very similar to globe thistle.
