What trees grow in clay. What flowers to plant on clay soil

The gardener does not often have such luck - to choose suitable site with fertile soil more often you have to put up with what you have. But you should not despair even if the site is low-lying or has stony blotches - attach a little imagination, and the garden will overshadow the neighboring ones with beauty. Gardeners consider clay soil a big problem, which turns into a swamp with stagnant water in spring, and into a stone monolith in summer, but even such soil can give life to charming flowers and shrubs. This article is all about which plants can please you with lush growth and long flowering on clay, recommendations for improving and structuring such soils.

What to plant on clay soil

Despite the multiple disadvantages of clay, many ornamental perennials and annuals can be grown on the site, which are able to put up with problem soil. In extreme cases, you can choose the mainland soil and fill the excavation with fertile soil. soil mixture composed with the addition of humus, manure and sand. The approximate composition of the soil for backfilling the roots of seedlings:

1. Chernozem (compost, humus) - from 30 to 40 liters per 1 seat.
2. Peat - from 20 to 30 l.
3. Pure sifted sand - from 20 to 30 l.
4. Superphosphate - 200 g.
5. Ash sifted - 300 g.

Top 4 fruit crops that can tolerate planting in clay soil

Dimensions of the landing pit: width - 1 m, depth - 0.5 m. Drainage is required. Backfilling of the roots of seedlings is carried out with a specially prepared substrate. Apple trees when planted in clay need more frequent application of nutrients. The root neck is not buried in the ground.

The landing pit is narrower and deeper. The drainage layer is a must. Backfilling of the roots - freshly prepared substrate. The root collar is above ground level (from 6 to 7 cm).

Prefers moderately clay areas, but tolerates moisture well. Landing is carried out in pits with backfilling with a specially prepared soil mixture.

The plant takes root well on clay soils with an acidic reaction, but at the same time, humus (from 6 to 8 kg per 1 m2), peat (10 kg per 1 m2), sand (from 15 to 20 kg per 1 m2). Landing pit dimensions: width - 0.7 m, depth - 0.5 m.

Top 5 Trees to Plant in Wet Clay Areas

Birch - a native Russian tree not only grows well on heavy clay soil, it is able to tolerate planting in areas with wet clay soils. Like a pump, birch roots suck moisture out of the soil, draining the area.

Thuja western is an unpretentious coniferous culture that can develop on wet clay. The plant requires good lighting.

Willow (all varieties) - able to grow in clay areas with high humidity, but when planting it is necessary to provide a drainage layer of broken brick, pebbles or expanded clay.

Maple red - easily tolerates excess and even stagnant water at the roots, so it feels great on wet clay. The tree prefers to grow in the shade.

Alder - this tree is able to improve the soil on the site, it grows well on wet soils, and the alder also saves the site from the bear.

Decorative perennials for areas with clay soil

There are not so few perennials that can tolerate heavy soil, among them shrubs and herbaceous crops can be distinguished.

Among shrubs, mock orange, hawthorn, daphne, panicled hydrangea, common and Canadian viburnum, fieldfare, black and blood-red currants grow well on clay soils.

A special group is liana-like plants that can grow in problem areas with dense or moist soil. Among them are the well-known and popular girlish grapes; closer to autumn, decorative ones appear on flexible shoots. blue-black berries, and green leaves are painted in bright colors of the yellow-scarlet spectrum.

Grows well in moist areas clay soil honeysuckle honeysuckle, and petiole.

A selection of perennial flowering crops that can be grown on dense or wet clay soils, let's start with bergenia. This perennial blooms in late spring, but retains until the very cold weather. decorative leaves. It tolerates planting in the shade in areas with high humidity.

Aquilegia, coreopsis, spirea, fiery red, cinquefoil grow well on clay plots shrubby, cuff, tenacious, liverwort, foxglove, irises, mountaineer, meadowsweet, hellebore, hosta and other types of plants.

In sunny areas with clay soil, perennial garden plants thrive (blood red, Balkan, marsh, Himalayan). Plants develop well on clay soils, but cannot stand planting in excessively moist areas.

A wide range of plants for planting on clay and wet areas is offered by the Becker online store - take a look at our website, the abundance of seedlings and seeds will not leave you indifferent.

Many plants, vegetables, trees can grow on clay, almost everything can grow on clay. Clay holds moisture well, is rich in nutrients, you just need to properly apply agricultural technology for each type of plant. It is also necessary to ennoble the soil, add sand and eliminate stagnant water, make, for example, high ridges. But still, there are plants that love sand and do not like clay. And it's a pine! Very rarely you will see a pine on clay soils, but on the sand - please. For example, pine trees grow in Jurmala, but I think they don't grow in Eilat.

Clay has its pros, but it also has its cons. The former include good moisture retention, plants on clay do not need to be watered often, they do not dry out. Oddly enough, the clay has the same minus, and if there is a lot of water, the clay becomes a stone, it does not allow air to pass through, it cracks and forms a crust that does not allow moisture to pass through, so the clay should be dug up often. Weeds grow well on clay and this becomes the scourge of any garden - sedge, wheatgrass, quinoa, plantain, horsetail and many others. But flowers grow well on clay soil - violets, roses, lilies, geraniums, phloxes. Good attitude to clay and such popular horticultural crops like apple tree, viburnum, hawthorn and jasmine. From large trees clay is tolerated by maple, alder, thuja, oak. In general, at proper care clay soil will not be a serious test, and if you approach the fertilizer correctly, you can get a magnificent flower garden or vegetable garden on it.

It is very problematic to grow something specifically on clay, since clay is very heavy. In addition, the clay is not porous, which prevents the development of the root system in plants. During the rainy season, the clay is washed away, and in hot weather all this loosened clay turns almost into stone.

Only weeds can grow on such soil.

Of course, you can plant green manure, add humus, sand, in order to somehow lighten the rot and grow something specific on it.

Clay itself is detrimental to many plants, because it becomes sticky mud in the rain and petrifies in the heat, so it must be constantly fertilized, improved with compost, otherwise the plants will die.

Sedge, plantain, tricolor violet, Ivan da Marya, meadow cornflower grow well on acidic clay soils. Clover, wild rose, wheatgrass grow well on slightly acidic soils. Clay soils are also loved by apple, willow, viburnum, rose, geranium, hawthorn, oak, tradescantia and many other plants.

Nothing can grow on pure clay, not even a weed can take root in it. Another thing is if the soil is clay, but this does not mean pure clay. The clay is so dense that no oxygen or moisture can pass through it. If you need a garden, then clay soils are acidic. Add lye.

On the clay soil unpretentious plants can grow. Especially willows grow well.

Many flowers grow normally: irises, petunias, marigolds, fragrant tobacco.

Peonies grow well, currants grow well on clay soil.

Trees grow best on clay soil. The thing is that trees have a powerful root system, and they will be able to get their roots to moisture and nutrients.

You can plant these ornamental trees like juniper, spruce, as well as fruit, for example, cherry, bird cherry, mountain ash.

You can also plant shrubs such as currants, raspberries. But keep in mind that if the summer is dry, the plants will not have enough moisture, so you will need to constantly loosen the soil, as well as sprinkle it with sand and compost.

Finally, unpretentious flowers can be planted on clay soil. For example, asters, heliopsis, Turkish carnation.

Clay is not fertile, so nothing useful can be grown in it. A feature of clay is the erosion during rain and the washing away of the upper layer, while the lower layers become denser, which prevents the growth of plants. Only grass and weeds and not at all whimsical plants can grow on clay, as a rule, such plants grow in clay themselves, no one plants them. Clay soil, unlike solid clay, has little fertility.

Apple trees and clay are not afraid, and bear fruit! Feel free to plant a tree, even if the soil is clay. Well, either plant a thuja, it is also not afraid of clay.

And if you want something exotic that does not like and tolerate clay, grow soil on top of clay soil on the site, and you will have a normal picturesque site!

Country cottage area, most of which consists of wet clay, often leads summer residents to real despair, because you really want to plant fruit trees and beautiful shrubs, break a pretty flower garden and grow excellent harvest vegetables! However, there is nothing unrealistic in this, the main thing is to understand what exactly can grow in such a site.

Everything is not so bad!

Of course, clay soil is considered one of the most problematic - from year to year it invariably baffles novice gardeners. However, this is far from the worst option of all possible - there are many colors, as well as various ornamental shrubs and fruit trees, which are easily put up with clay soil and develop well on it. And in some areas it is quite possible to try to improve the quality of the soil. Of course, it is almost impossible to completely improve it, but the results that can actually be achieved can also be very pleasing.

Soil quality improvement

First you need to conduct a thorough analysis of the soil and build at least the simplest drainage to drain excess water. Then, drainage material is laid on the bottoms of the pits intended for planting various shrubs with trees, and a small amount of river sand or bonfires (the so-called waste from flax mills). And in order to deoxidize the soil, they introduce dolomite flour, after which they are fertilized with thoroughly decomposed manure. Such soil is ideal for placing a compact lawn, a bright flower garden or practical vegetable beds. And areas of the garden that could not be significantly improved are best set aside for planting the most unpretentious crops.

What will grow well in wet clay?

On moist clay soils, you can safely break cherry or Apple orchard, as well as plant all sorts of varieties and varieties of shadberry, willow and mountain ash, as well as linden with maple. Shrubs can also be grown on these soils - the most spectacular varieties of viburnum or derain will come in handy here. For example, the Diavolo viburnum bush, painted in rich burgundy-brownish tones, perfectly helps to emphasize the lightest areas. And if you need to brighten the dark corners, you can plant Derain Elegantissima - its luxurious whitish-greenish leaves will become the best helpers in this important matter!

Currants also feel great on clay soils, and not only her cultivars, but also an extremely attractive currant is beautiful. No worse take root in such areas and aralia or holly mahonia. It is not forbidden to land in clay and conifers- cypress grows best in it. At the same time, it is important to provide all tree crops good drainage in planting holes, as well as thoroughly mulch trunk circles to avoid highly undesirable soil compaction.

In addition, a wide variety of ferns grow well on clay plots. And on them you can safely grow astilba, daylily, most varieties of primrose and hellebore, as well as oriental doronicum and irises - calamus and Siberian.

And if suddenly clay area failed to break the usual lawn, you can just land on it moisture-loving undersized plants. A small clover copes very well with excessive moisture in such an area. It is only important not to forget to sand the soil in the spring and periodically pierce the spectacular green lawn with a pitchfork!

Indeed, very often we lament that on the site bad soil: some are sandy, some are clay. Of course, they need to be improved with the help of composts, manure, green manure, but this cannot be done instantly, it will take a lot of work and a lot of time. But after all, I want everything to bloom and smell fragrant, to be buried in greenery today. In this case, it is better to work in two directions at the same time. Gradually cultivate soil and at the same time try direct beauty via certain plants that will withstand the prevailing conditions.

So, if you have heavy clay soil and it seems to you that no beautiful plants will not grow here - you are mistaken. Do not be sad, do not give up, but pay attention to those flowers that can put up with these conditions.

For example, in sunny places they will develop perfectly peonies. Oh, these pompous decorations of our dachas! Arriving at someone's site and not finding signs of peonies, in this case I always shrug my hands in bewilderment: how could it be without them !? First, you can choose by color: red, pink, white. Secondly, they grow in one place up to 30 years! But if they begin to shrink, it is better to divide earlier. Agree, there are very few such centenarians among perennials. And thirdly, the aroma of these flowers can simply drive you crazy.

Plant safely in clay soil in a sunny spot various daylilies. I also love them for their unpretentiousness and abundant flowering. And how many varieties have now appeared on the market - and do not count.

Surprisingly, even such a quiveringly delicate flower as aquilegia (catchment), feels quite comfortable on clay soil in the sun. I know that many of her enjoys well-deserved attention.

Rudbeckia clay soil is also not terrible, and it will delight you with its sunny orange baskets for a long time.

Well, so fighter (aconite) and completely overcome all the problems of clay soil. This is already in its very name.

Make friends with great delphiniums, and they will allow you to create compositions and flower beds-masterpieces even on clay soils. Read about delphiniums above.

Now let's see what can grow on clay soils located in penumbra? And for such unenviable conditions, nature has come up with hardy plants.

This, for example, volzhanka, a bush of which can grow to a meter or more and will have wonderful white panicles on it. And the American Volzhanka will, on the contrary, be low, up to 30 cm.

Definitely decorate the site and black cohosh, which is not yet a frequent guest on the site. Pay attention to it.

And now host probably everyone knows. And no wonder. This is a plant that allows you to make compositions, and an elegant group, and just looks great on its own. Just apply warmth and hands to its development - and it will please you with green, with a white or yellow border, or even a speck of juicy big leaves, which are decorative all season.

There is a fantastic variety flowering shrubs suitable for growing in the garden.

Garden centers and nurseries are bursting with breathtaking objects of desire. However, on the way to creating beautiful site flowering shrubs may become unsuitable soil structure.

Let's figure out on what soil how shrubs can grow. First, define and .

Shrubs for sandy soil. Sandy soils tend to be well-drained but not fertile because rainwater freely passes through them, taking with it all water-soluble nutrients. Soils dry out quickly. While this is an advantage because you can start digging almost immediately after a rainstorm, sandy soils tend to be too dry in summer. Shrubs quickly adapt to such conditions - their roots go deeper into the soil in search of water, so shrubs growing on sandy soils suffer much less during drought than the same plants on more moisture-intensive soils.

Choosing shrubs

Sandy soils are usually characterized by an alkaline reaction, so heathers and erics, in particular tree-like ones, will feel good on them. Erica tree alpine - best view with bright green foliage and white flowers appearing in spring. It grows up to 2 m and goes well with other evergreen shrubs, heathers and conifers.

Regardless of the acidity of the soil, plants with gray foliage, such as lavender or santolina, will grow significantly longer in sandy soils than in heavy and wet ones.

Upland bindweed, with its silk silvery leaves, is an ideal dwarf shrub for sandy areas. The same can be said for shrubs with fragrant foliage, such as rosemary or thyme.

Brooms grow quickly, and in spring they delight with numerous spicy-smelling flowers. The early broom, with its pale creamy yellow flowers, pairs beautifully with California lilacs such as 'Puget Blue'. With age, brooms become bare from below. To avoid this, plants from the first years of life should be pruned immediately after the end of the flowering period.

Sandy soils are too dry for most types of khebe, but varieties with small gray foliage in a moisture-deficient mode do fine. Hebe 'Red Edge' is a great example of a hardy, low-growing, domed shrub suitable for sandy soils.

Improving sandy soils

An effective way to improve sandy soils is to fertilize them with organic fertilizers such as well-rotted manure or garden compost. Add organic matter when preparing planting holes and as mulch. You need to feed your shrubs with a slow-release fertilizer both at planting time and every spring. Rose fertilizers are ideal for all flowering shrubs except those that cannot tolerate acidic soils.

For some time after planting, until the plants are finally rooted, they need extra care, which consists mainly in regular watering.

Lavender is drought tolerant and perfectly adapted to sandy soil.

Shrubs for clay soil

Gardeners do not like clay soils for their density, winter dampness and difficulty in processing. However, clay is fertile and retains moisture well, so most flowering shrubs are fine with it. Many plants that have long and deservedly become garden favorites, grow in clay soils, so you have a wide choice and the opportunity to decorate your garden during the season.

Making the right choice

Clay soils can be both acidic and alkaline, so it's important to check your site's pH before choosing plants. If the soil is acidic, you can grow azaleas, magnolias, and other beautiful shrubs in it.

Love alkaline soils, these shrubs open the flower show in the garden in early spring. Forsythia intermediate varieties "Week-End" are much more compact than other varieties and are great for small gardens. Currants blooming at the same time are different high reliability and fragrant leaves. If you don't like its pinkish red flowers, opt for a more sophisticated variety like 'White lcicle'.

Cotoneasters are reliable shrubs that consistently produce flowers in spring and berries in winter. They grow in both sun and shade and thrive in the most unfavorable soils. Cotoneaster franchetii (Cotoneaster franchetii) blends well with other plants, with beautiful arching branches and semi-evergreen greyish-green foliage.

All thrive in clay soils, from the reliable evergreen laurel viburnum to the majestic, impressive folded viburnum 'Mariesii'. This shrub is great both in a single planting and as an accent in the corner of a flower bed. He will need a lot of free space for spreading horizontal branches, which late spring covered with caps of white lace flowers.

Improving clay soils

Before planting plants, it is necessary to improve the structure and permeability of the soil by digging and using a rake. If you have done this since the fall, it will be easier for you to prepare the soil after the winter freeze. Add more organics - the more the better! In heavy clay soils, add sand to help improve the drainage properties of the surface layer.

During planting, make a good, large hole and break up the clods of the excavated earth. Add more compost to make it easier for the plant's roots to get through the clay.

Viburnums are very accommodating flowering shrubs, they easily put up with almost all types of garden soil, including heavy clay, while they can grow both in the sun and in the shade.

Shrubs for wet soil

Soils with deep, well-drained, never-drying topsoil best base growing conditions. If you are lucky enough to own one, you can grow just about anything you want. On the other hand, if the soil in your garden is constantly wet, there is a risk of waterlogging and this must be taken into account when choosing flowering shrubs for your garden. Prefer those that do well in wet soils and use them to create stunning combinations with moisture-loving perennials such as Gunnera, Ligularia, Rodgersia, Iris sibirica, and loosestrife. (Lythrum).

Moisture-loving shrubs

With large spherical inflorescences, as well as hydrangeas with more flattened lacy inflorescences, they feel great on wet soils, especially in partial shade. If the hydrangea is planted in an "ice pocket", the young growth may suffer in early spring, but the plants recover later. There are many beautiful varieties of large-leaved hydrangea in various shades of red, pink and white. On acidic soils, many red and pink varieties produce blue, purple or purple flowers. The Zorro variety is very effective with dark shoots and sapphire-blue lacy inflorescences (on soils with an alkaline reaction they become pink-purple).

Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa) is one of the easiest shrubs to grow and thrives in moist soils. Honeysuckle looks especially impressive near a reservoir, when arcuately drooping green branches bend over the surface of the water and show purple flowers in all their glory. In a snowless winter, the shoots of the Himalayan honeysuckle look especially impressive against the background of white derain.

There are many attractive elderberry varieties that grow well in moist soils. The owner of beautiful carved foliage black dissected elderberry, or dissected-leaved (Sambucus nigra f. laciniata), - a large shrub with pinnate, airy foliage - is covered with white heads of flat white inflorescences in summer, they are replaced by red-black fruits in autumn. All types of elderberry, including purple, yellow and variegated forms, in young age gratefully respond to a strong pruning at the end of winter - this stimulates powerful growth.

Planting in wet soil

In late autumn, avoid planting in areas where the soil remains wet for extended periods of time. The earth there will be cold, quickly freezing, it will be hard to work with it. Water can collect in the planting hole, flooding the roots of the plant. It is much preferable to plant on moist soils in spring or early summer. By this time, the earth is already warm enough and is much easier to process. Add more well-rotted organic fertilizers to landing pit and into the surrounding soil to give new plants the best start.

If in your garden acidic soils, you can plant all those delightful shrubs that gardeners are so excited about: magnolias, rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias. The period of the highest decorativeness of your garden will then fall in the spring.

Shrubs for acidic soil

Acidic clay soils are more fertile than sandy soils with the same reaction, clay holds water better than sand. If you have enough space in your garden, the Soulange magnolia is the first choice. spring mature plant covered with large pink and white goblet-shaped inflorescences, as if fashioned from wax - the most brilliant sight that can be imagined in the garden.

• Do not plant magnolia outdoors - the flowers are easily damaged by the wind, you also need to be careful return frosts, which are not terrible for the plant, but will destroy the flowers.
• Give this plant more space, as it can suffer greatly from improper pruning.
• For smaller gardens, the lily magnolia 'Nigra' with purplish red flowers or the pink 'Susan' is best.

Many varieties of rhododendrons will great solution for gardens with acidic clay soils. The two most impressive varieties are 'Nova Zambia', with crimson flowers that appear in mid-spring, and 'Mrs Fumivall', which is covered in tufts of pink flowers in late spring. Both varieties grow up to 3 m. It is not necessary to let the rhododendrons reach maximum dimensions, their growth can be restrained by pruning immediately after flowering.

Camellias grow well in moderately moist, acidic soils, but the best place for them to plant is to choose so that the morning sun can not damage the flowers after night frosts. Camellia japonica varieties tend to be compact and have broad, glossy, dark green leaves. For a light spot effect, it is hard to find anything better than the Williams camellia variety 'Donation' with a freer growth pattern than other camellias and soft pink flowers.

On drier, acidic soils, such as sandy or rocky soils, focus on heathers and ericas. Picking up combinations different varieties heather, erica and dabecia, you will get flowers and decorative foliage throughout the season. All of these shrubs are perfectly combined with azaleas and dwarf rhododendrons.

Planting in acidic soil

Acidic clay soils and light sandy or rocky soils should be improved by adding organic fertilizers. Plants that prefer acidic soils do not need in large numbers nutrients, so do not worry that their content is low in the soil of your garden; just feed the shrubs annually with a slow-release heath fertilizer.

calcareous soils

Soils containing lime or crushed stone in the surface layer are usually dry and poor. Their porous base allows rainwater to freely go into the depths, taking nutrients with it. However, there are many flowering shrubs that thrive in calcareous soils, and these plants include many of the gardeners' favorites. And if you absolutely insist on rhododendrons and azaleas, you can always grow them in containers filled with heather compost.

Shrubs for alkaline soils

Many shrubs come from regions with dry calcareous soils. So, for example, rosemary variety "Miss Jessopp's Upright" feels great in such conditions, delighting, in addition to fragrant foliage, blue flowers appearing at the beginning of the season. Thymes, such as 'Pink Chintz' creeping thyme, also thrive in alkaline soils, the fragrant cushions and mounds formed by their foliage and adorned small flowers perfect for revitalizing paved paths or planting in gravel.