i am looking for anything that grows well in clay

we have 10 acres of clay and i hate the fact that everything has to go above ground. does anyone know what would grow well in the clay soil?
any trades or sase for such things?
thanks
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nadi

Hi Nadi

I live in northern Iowa. I have an area I am trying to kind of naturalize. I have gotten daylillies, shasta daisies, garden phlox, lilly of the valley, black eyed susan, feverfew, most herbs I have tried(common ones), lamb's ear. They don't seem to spread as much. The feverfew does really well. Let me know if you would like something here and I will check to see if I have any seed.

Leslie
booster1

i have had irises, cannas grow in clay. we have a lot of it here.

i also make sorta raised beds for things. i just make a one or two layer box of good soil and then plant. let the plants have a good start.

for actual ground planting the actual hole i dig in the ground i dig bigger then normal. then i back fill with a good potting soil then i plant my stuff.

Good info Imzadi, one more thing I do besides that....I plant on mounds. This keeps the plant crown above the soggy soil and seems to work well.

thanks all for the good info.
i have cannas and irises growing and they do well. that was the first thing i planted and thought "hey, this is not so bad" and it went down hill from there. i have the boxes everywhere. i leave the bottoms of the boxes open and just make a square so the roots will dig in when stronger. most plants are still young and i don't know yet if that is working. blackberry, raspberry ans the likes seem to do well in the clay also.

boost - i would love some garden phlox, lilly of the valley, feverfew, and maybe some lamb's ear if you have any? is there anything you want/need that i can send you or is a sase ok?
let me know and i will get that in the mail.

email me your addy after you think about what you want.
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nadi

another thing i do that may help you. when you do plant in the ground or on the ground i losen the soil alot underneath. lets say i make a box then put in good dirt before i actually put in the dirt i break the ground up underneath so the first sets of roots dont have to work to hard . i found this awhile ago for plants and heavy clay areas

Plants for Heavy Clay Soil
Many parts of New Jersey are plagued with extremely heavy soil that is a mixture of clay and dirt. This usually makes for extremely difficult digging. It is also not an ideal condition for many types of plants. Most plants will survive with soil amendments, including adding a healthy mixture of topsoil and peat moss. However, the plants on this list have proven to be especially hardy in these types of conditions with only minimal amendments to the soil.

Trees
Bald Cypress London Planetree Russian Olive Thornless Honeylocust
Crabapple Flowering Pear Spruce Washington Hawthorn
Elm Red Maple Sweetgum Willow
Goldenrain Tree River Birch - -

Groundcovers and Vines
Ajuga Honeysuckle Ornamental Grasses Sumac
Boston Ivy Hosta Pachysandra Wintercreeper Euonymus
Daylillies Juniper - -

Shrubs
Alpine Currant Euonymus Rosa Rugosa Blackhawk Viburnum
Arborvitae Forsythia Russian Olive Cranberry Viburnum
Barberry Honeysuckle Snowberry Nannyberry Viburnum
Bayberry Juniper Spirea Sargent Viburnum
Beauty Bush Privet Sumac Willow
Chokeberry Pyracantha Symphoricarpos Witchazel
Deutzia Quince Arrowood Viburnum Yew
Dogwood - - -

Back
Copyright ©2004 Willow Creek Nursery & Country Store

thats great info. thanks so much. we have dogwood and oak everywhere. both do very well there.

i did break up the dirt under my boxes and i added a bit of small rock about 12" down in the hole. filled with loose clay mixed with peat. then i put the box on the ground, fill and plant.
from what you guys are saying, it sounds like it might work.

i have ordered several of the hibiscus from the co-op and i am hoping they will work that way as well. time will tell.

thanks again for the info.
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nadi

I have recently moved to a region with heavy red clay, nadi. I researched soil amendments for clay and came up with a substance called Perma-till, which is a volcanic rock and looks like finely-crushed gravel. It is recommended by Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC, who is a pretty well-known horticulturist in these parts.

So I bought a truckload of Perma-till blended with compost (30% Permatill) and used it in raised beds in my vegetable garden. It has worked really well. The gravely substance makes the clay much more workable.

Here's an article written by Tony Avent on soil amendments for clay that talks about Perma-till. If you do a search on it, you will come up with quite a few references.

http://www.plantdelights.com/Tony/soils.html

what a great article ivory. very interesting stuff. we have a mushroom nursery not far from here that sells mulch by the truck loads. $12.00 or something silly. if i could find this perma-til and add the 2 into the clay it sounds like i may have a winner. i know we can get pea gravel here but i'll have to research the perma-til.
thanks so much for the advice.
i will have to get busy now and find the stuff.
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nadi

Nadi

When I get back from Phoenix(Nov. 13th), I will email you with a list of what seeds I have that will work. Hope that is ok. I leave tomorrow.

thanks
Leslie

thats fine. have a safe trip
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nadi

If you do a Google or Teoma search on Perma-Till, you will find quite a few references.

I like gardening in containers,because i have so much trouble getting any digging done. It makes me feel faint to even think about tilling any thing. I use the mushroom mulch it seems to help a lot.
dixie

There's a asclepias tuberose that is bred for clay soils. I just don't remember which prairie company was selling them. You could do a search. But I think it may have been prairiemoon.

i will check into that as well.
thanks for all this great info.
you guys are so much help.
i can't believe the knowledge on this web site!