Plants for Clay Soil

If you feel like you need a jackhammer to bust into your garden soil, you've got clay. This is a familiar garden complaint in Marin. If you want to make your clay soil more workable, you can amend it with organic material. Alternatively, you can choose to grow plants that perform beautifully in clay soil.

USE OUR LIST OF > PLANTS THAT THRIVE IN CLAY SOIL

Make no mistake: just because these plants perform like champions in clay, it doesn't mean they're any less attractive than plants that demand perfect loam. Here are a few to consider.

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) blooms in summer and fall in clay soil, its golden daisies aglow as the rest of the garden is fading. Photo: PlantMaster

Foothill penstemon (Penstemon heterophyllus) blooms brilliant cerulean blue every spring – even in clay soil. Photo: PlantMaster

Our state flower is easy to grow. Sow poppy seeds in fall for spring-summer bloom. Photo: PlantMaster

Many grasses thrive in clay soil. This blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens) has a lovely blue color and is especially attractive when backlit. Photo: PlantMaster