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Plant recommendations for baking sun in summer and tons of rain in winter, on heavy clay soil
Hello,
Does anyone have any suggestions for plants/bushes which can cope with baking summer conditions without needing much water, but will also be ok in the winter when the clay soil gets waterlogged? Plus beaten by storm winds on a hillside! They won't be in standing water but the soil will be saturated. Thank you.
Does anyone have any suggestions for plants/bushes which can cope with baking summer conditions without needing much water, but will also be ok in the winter when the clay soil gets waterlogged? Plus beaten by storm winds on a hillside! They won't be in standing water but the soil will be saturated. Thank you.
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Having a look at what other people grow successfully in their gardens locally may give you some ideas.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Not an extensive list given, but they suggested
I can recommend the last one as where I have it here it almost dries out in summer but is wet all winter. But not clay.
I'm sure there'll be other suggestions from members with these conditions, but the cornus should withstand the wind I think, and the persicaria is a low, mat-forming ground cover.
Shrubs/perennials from warmer/sunnier climes would like the sun and could cope with less water but unless you provide adequate drainage, they will obviously suffer in waterlogged soil in the winter.
Same applies to damp /shade loving plants - they won't be happy in dry soil in baking sun.
Perhaps if you could give more info such as aspect , size of garden/planting area, any particular preferences, children/pets to allow for, interest in wildlife, how much maintenance you can cope with, etc it could enable posters to offer you more useful advice
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I have it on clay and it is a real do'er. But mine is on the north side of the house so only gets the full sun from early afternoon, plus it's on a bank which tends to retain more moisture. We also have some at the front of the house (the south side) but it doesn't do as well.
I'd try Rudbeckia Goldsturm if you like yellow flowers. It's pretty bomb proof and loves clay. And if it's happy it will certainly spread.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
You will do well to improve your soil with lots of organic matter at every opportunity, whatever you're planting - it will always help. Hardy geraniums (lots of different types) are a reliable 'doer' for me as are lots of other ground cover perennials such as pulmonaria, epimediums etc. Bulbs don't do very well - either the squirrels get them or quite a few rot in the wet ground - and alpines can only be grown in specially prepared raised beds or containers.
Roses do very well once they've got their roots down and viburnums, amalanchier, cornus (esp Mid winter fire), winter honeysuckle and choisya thrive. Plants which shouldn't do well in our hot, very dry summers such as hostas and persicaria bisorta actually do fine so long as we have a wet autumn / winter. A drought of a year or more can see them off.
In your position I'd consider planting some tough windbreaks (hazel and hawthorn thrive here) to offer some protection from the wind. Wind scorch can cause as much (if not more) damage than strong sun and drought.
Good luck. You have a challenge on your hands - but stuff will grow. As Pete.8 suggested -it's worth seeing what is growing in other gardens nearby.
That's what I do here, and always have done- in every garden I've had. All on clay, and with heavy/persistent rainfall, although we don't get the same amount of dry weather through summer, which helps. I also use raised beds for plants in sunnier sites, and that also helps, as the rain is mitigated a good bit
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
- Rudbeckia Goldsturm
- Verbascum
- Delphinium
- Linaria Canon Went
- Caryopteris
- Hebe
- Hot Poker
Good luck.
I ♥ my garden.
I grow shrubs like cotoneaster, pyracantha, viburnum, abelia, chaenomeles, berberis, nandina and lots of roses and all do fine in my improved clay in baking hot summers, with often monsoon rainfall and frosty mountain winters in exposed positions. My climate is much hotter but by no means benign!
Much of my planting is in raised beds - not only to improve drainage but because I have shallow clay soil on rock. I grow a wide range of perennials. Shrubby salvias are especially good and tough, but the improved conditions mean I can also grow lots of drought tolerant plants that like good drainage that wouldn’t otherwise survive. Everything I plant has to be hardy to -10c.