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Georgia Gardener

Flowers for clay soil?

14 years ago

Hi all,

Once again I find myself getting twitchy as spring approaches! This year's plan is to try to be more conservative about my gardening expenses. However, I would like to try to grow some colorful flowers in my yard. Right now I have gladiolas, columbine, coral bells, dianthus in the back, and bulbs, gardenias, roses & lavendar in the front. I may also have clematis, but there's a good chance that I killed most of them. Anyway, I'm looking for some more tips as to what flowers/flowering shrubs grow well in clay soil in full sun.

Thanks!

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Comments (6)

trivedi_south
14 years ago
R U looking for perenial or annual plants?
jardinera75
14 years ago
I bought chinese fringe flower a couple of years back and those babies give me no trouble - no fertilizing, watering (once they are established of course) and they bloom every spring and fall with little pom pom pick flowers during the winter they lose some leaves but not all - they are plum color -
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Yes, raised in the middle makes a crown. How much, is your call. You asked about the shape. I like to think of the shape of a lawn as if it were water. A pond in your case. Being fluid really helps with giving the lawn 'flow' and 'presence'. Everybody worries about the shape of a tree or rock, but usually don't give much thought to the shape of the lawn except to cover as much space as possible. Then they cutout flower beds and they end up looking like cutouts. The shape of the lawn is more important than the shape of the flower beds. I hope that helps. I haven't been in downtown Seattle in 5 or 6 years. I used to live within walking distance of the market. I'm sort of an old hermit in the country now. The last time I visited the Calgary area I visited the Drumheller Dinosaur Museum. Awesome!
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cyrus_gardner
14 years ago
without being specific, I can say that most, if not all, flowers would
appreciate a well amended clay soil.
All you have to do is dig/till the beds, add compost, leaf mold,
fall leaves,..turn/mix/till again and plant whatever
you wish. Mulch well after planting.
buford
14 years ago
Lantana is great. Does not need watering and will flower for most of the summer. Also attracts butterflies and honeybees. Some varieties will come back every year (I've had the yellow one for a few years). It will also spread to a good size to cover an open spot.
bagsmom
14 years ago
This is off your topic a little bit.... but I made some new beds this summer -- removed grass, mostly and made the outline of the bed area. The soil is almost all clay. Just this fall -- LATE in the fall and maybe it was even winter -- I chopped up some of my last leaves in the yard with the lawnmower. Then I emptied the bag over the new beds to make it look a little more "done." (Also because I was too lazy to walk back to the compost pile....)

I planted some bare root plants yesterday in this area. I had my big bag of mushroom compost ready to go, to amend the soil.

To my surprise, nature was ALREADY doing its work on the clay soil! Worms were munching away at the leaves and I could see the clay was loosening up!

So I would say you could do careful, dug-in amendments to the soil in spots, but be vigilant about layering on amendments over the whole area during the next couple of years. I'd be willing to bet that the worms and other little critters will do your tilling for you (although SLOWWWWWLLLY!)

Good luck!
love_savannah
14 years ago
My sister lives in middle GA and has the red clay problem. Her Knockout Roses are beautiful. However, if you're wanting to attract butterflies & bees, Knockouts don't do the job. As Buford mentioned above, Lantana is great. It comes in all different colors and sizes. Like he stated, many are perinnials. They're also easy to root if you want to buy a few and multiply those later. Last, but not least, they're also very affordable which is a plus for you. Also, you may want to conside daylilies.

Since you're on a budget (as most of us are these days), you may want to hit your friends up for some cuttings or seeds. It's fun to experiment...go for it!

Bon

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