That would explain why the bands that I plant straight into the ground (after about a week of acclimation in their pots) do well for me. My soil is decomposed granite, to which I add organic bagged soil in the planting hole, so it's a far cry from rock-hard clay soil. The down side is that this type of soil needs more water, but I've found that heavy mulching with leaves helps quite a bit, and of course as the leaves decompose they enrich the soil, without affecting the crumbly structure. Ingrid

Tom, I disagree that Acer rubrum and Betula nigra will struggle in neutral soil. I've grown both with extreme vigor and lustrous green foliage in something between upper 6s and lower 7s. The range for both is in the mid to upper 7s if I'm not mistaken. azaleas/rhodies are fine as well but they aren't as vigorous due to the soil texture around here. Pin oak starts to struggle once you get into the upper 6s, but its Pink oak so who care, lol. Seed source will impact its adaptability as well. Here a couple. Darn things are double the size now after doing a drive by of the old house.

Kordes Flower Carpet survived my zone 5a winter better than Knock-out. Zero diseases for the past 16 years. Didn't fertilize nor water it for over a decade. Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden in NY rated the top 115 no-spray & disease-resistant roses by score. Quietness came 3nd place, after Belinda's Dream at 8.6. Quietness got the second best score of 8.55, higher than single-Knock-out at 8. Julia Child gets a score of 8.3. Austin Heritage gets a score of 8.8. Alkaline clay folks complained that Heritage is stingy, due less acid-phosphatase. Roots secrete acid to utilize phosphorus in soil for blooming. Too much of that ends up with fungal diseases. http://www.nybg.org/gardens/rose-garden-top-performers-2010.php If you click on the link above, it ranked the most disease & no-spray roses by a score. Knock-out scores at 8, while many Kordes roses are at 8.3 and above. Kordes roses have vigorous root system, mean better winter-survival and perfect foliage. HybridizerVariety (Sorted Alphabetically)Overall ScoreAlexander Hill GrayAlister Stella Gray7.75LimAll the Rage8.15KordesAmadeus®7.90MeillandApricot Drift®8.10BayseBelinda's Dream8.60PriorBetty Prior8.15UnknownBlush Noisette8.00RadlerBlushing Knock Out®8.10MeillandBolero™ 20048.50MeillandBonica™®8.00ClarkBorderer7.75LensBouquet Parfait®7.91BedardCape Diamond®7.85KordesCaramella®7.85AustinCarding Mill®8.50BuckCarefree Beauty™8.25MeillandCarefree Delight™7.75RadlerCarefree Spirit™7.95LimCentennial7.85MeillandCherry Parfait™8.50KordesCinderella Fairy Tale8.50MeillandColette™8.00MeillandCoral Drift™8.40KordesCream Veranda8.75FoundDarlow's Enigma9.00LimDaydream7.90KordesDesmond Tutu8.25RadlerDouble Knock Out®9.10DucherDucher8.25BernèdeDuchesse de Brabant8.25MeillandEaster Basket™9.25HarknessEasy Does It™7.85KordesEiffel Tower8.25KordesEliza®8.00KordesEscimo™8.00MeillandEternal Flame™8.40ShoupF.J. Lindheimer8.40KordesFelicitas8.00KordesFloral Fairy Tale8.00LesterFrancis E. Lester8.00KordesGardening Joy8.25KordesGebrϋder Grimm® (Brothers Grimm)8.50KordesGolden Fairy Tale™8.00AustinHeritage®8.80CarruthHome Run™8.10KordesJasmina®8.35WilliamsJoe Grey™8.10CarruthJulia Child™8.35KordesKarl Ploberger7.85RadlerKnock Out®8.00KordesKordes Golden Gate™8.00KordesKordes Moonlight®8.75KordesKosmos9.00BarbierLa Marne8.15KordesLa Perla8.00NoackLady Elsie May™8.00ShoupLady Pamela Carol8.00KordesLaguna®8.30KordesLarissa8.50ZuzekLena7.90KordesLions-Rose®7.60KordesLupo®8.00LimMacy's Pride8.95DesprezMarchesa Boccella8.25SportMarie Daly7.85AlégatièreMarie Pavié7.85KordesMarie-Luise Marjan®8.40CarruthMemorial Day™8.25DelbardMichel Bras8.25MeillandMother of Pearl™8.70UnknownMutabilis8.25LimMy Girl7.85PissardNastarana7.85ShoupOld Baylor8.45ZuzekOle7.85MeillandOso Easy Cherry Pie8.50WarnerOso Easy Fragrant Spreader8.00MeillandPeach Drift®9.00FoundPeggy Martin 'Survivor'8.75RadlerPink Double Knock Out®9.00MeillandPink Drift®8.75CarruthPink Home Run®7.15RadlerPink Knock Out®8.10MeillandPink Traviata™8.40KordesPlanten un Blomen8.40KordesPomponella™8.00LensPorcelaine de Chine8.00PembertonProsperity7.50KordesPurple Rain8.65BuckQuietness8.55RadlerRainbow Knock Out®8.00ShoupRepublic of Texas8.00KordesRosanna®7.85KordesRosarium Uetersen®8.05UnknownRose de Rescht7.25KordesRoxy™8.50HolmesSally Holmes®8.45BarniSans Souci7.85AustinScepter'd Isle7.80KordesSolero™7.80AustinSophy's Rose8.75AustinSpirit of Freedom8.75LeeStanwell Perpetual7.85BarniStile '800®8.20KordesSummer Memories™8.00KordesSummerSun8.00RadlerSunny Knock Out®8.50MeillandSweet Drift®8.00MeillandTequila™7.90DemitsThe Gift7.95BugnetThérèse Bugnet8.15MeillandTraviata™8.65RadlerWhite Out®8.65RadlerWinner's Circle™7.90KordesZadie8.10 Below is my Kordes FlowerCarpet, pic. taken late August. I didn't fertilizer nor water it for over a decade .. actually did better that way:

Wow, a lot to react to here. from westes "Changing the basic composition and pH of your native soil is almost a pointless task. It would take enormous volumes of material to make a dent in it." Well, let's not forget the enterprising Texans who have used sulfuric acid to successfully prepare central Texas limestone soils for the cultivation of blueberries. Something I joked about in another thread, would result in lifetime imprisonment and a million dollar fine if you'd done it in California. In that case, it's an enormous amount of hydrogen ions that are being added LOL. It's just you can store an enormous amount of them in a relative small volume of sulfuric acid...that's why it's so dangerous! They were essentially turning the limestone in their soil, into calcium sulfate. And as long as they were using a sulfuric acid low in heavy metals, I say, good for them. Go for it. It would need to be properly diluted first, for safety and to avoid unwanted side chain reactions. Another exception is athletic fields that use products like turface to improve soil structure. Believe me, they would NOT spend the money it takes to use those products if they didn't "work". They do. Yes a large (maybe not enormous) amount of material is required, and it's not cheap, but they permanently improve the surface drainage of the soil. I have NO DOUBT that the reason SOME of my rhododendrons have survived the weather conditions we've had in the last 12 years and being planted in the part of my garden, where they are planted that didn't have a good strong slope, is because of the many bags of turface and permatil I tilled into those areas. It has allowed even my relatively good clay-loam to stay more aerated after extreme rainfall events, than it otherwise would have. There's a pretty obvious pattern now of rhodies outside those tilled zones, being more prone to dying of root rot. But overall the rest of the post from weste is absolutely correct, and think you are getting good advice from westes, amoured, and morpheus. It's a myth that *huge* amounts of organic material are better for growing. And for average people, it's "out of scope" try to do something like I did with my rhododendron grounds. When morpheus talks about 'over amending' I agree with him. It is a problem because people don't understand the point of amending. Let's say I had foolishly followed the 'conventional wisdom' of some erstwhile posters to gardenweb. (i did this back in 2009) I would have tilled in enormous amounts of say, wood chips, instead. Because "organic is good", right? Those would breakdown - the permatil, as the name implies - does not - and have made the soil even MORE of a quagmire than it potentially was! OTOH if I had say a vegetable garden in a high spot on really dry crusty alkaline soil out in the midwest, I'd probably till in some organic material, because that would actually help in that case. Because vegetables aren't the drainage obsessed drama queens that rhododendrons are LOL. Add nitrogen of course. I had acid loam that was just a little too water retentive for what I needed. There is a consideration here of what you want to get out of your soil!!! I would follow the advice of morpheus, even though your Calcium is already "high", calcium is not toxic to plants. Sodium is. Apply calcium sulfate (aka gypsum) to displace the sodium. I would even get a gallon of decyl or lauryl glucoside on ebay - it's an inexpensive, gentle surfactant that I think is less likely to have unwanted downstream environmental effects than a lot of what is sold as horticultural surfactants. I have used it in the root zone of many, many plants with no ill effect. It's REALLY good at making dusty, resistant soils open up and accept water. Get a large watering can or maybe better a hose-end sprayer to apply. 1 tablespoon per gallon would be a good starting rate.