Clay-Tolerant Natives Grown by Yerba Buena Nursery
Garden Guides | Garden Design Service
Along with deer as neighbors, gardening in clay soil is one of the most common challenges facing our customers. The following list will give you a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and perennials to select for a garden with poor drainage.
How do you know if you have clay soil? The easiest method is to moisten a small patch of your yard and scoop up a handful of earth. Form it into a ball, then open your hand. If the ball falls apart, it's safe to say you do not have clay soil. If it withstands a couple of pokes without disintegrating, it's safe to say your soil is at least fairly clayey.
Another common test is to dig a small hole about a foot deep, fill it with water, let it drain, then refill the hole. The time it takes for the second filling to percolate into the soil is a good judge of the drainage characteristics of your yard. If water remains standing in the hole longer than 8-12 hours, you have clay soil.
Plants marked with one asterisk (*) are our most clay tolerant plants, even capable of tolerating standing water in winter -- ideal for a streamside or poorly draining depression in your yard. Plants with two asterisks (**) are clay tolerant as long as they are not overwatered during the summer.
If you have a garden with clay soil we suggest that you print out this list and bring it with you when you come and visit Yerba Buena. We have provided a printer safe list with easy to read formatting for this purpose.* - These are our most clay tolerant plants, even capable of tolerating standing water in winter -- ideal for a streamside or poorly draining depression in your yard.
** - These plants are clay tolerant as long as they are not overwatered during the summer.