Hello We have recently built a new home in Oklahoma. The soil is very clay like. The drainage is not too good. I have two areas that have standing water upon rain. I want to put a flowering bed there, but do not know what kinds of plants/flowers would react favorably to these conditions, Please advise. Thanks, Carlis
Hello Carl, Welcome to Botanical Garden Forums. I do not envy you your clay, I have clay too but some seem to think its great for plants. For me in summer its like breaking up bricks, in wet weather it sticks to the spade. The deeper I used to dig the more stuck to the spade and there seemed no end to the depth of the stuff. I find you must *not* dig clay when its wet. When its fine to plant then plant in a mound so the roots do not sit in water and rot. You need to add organic matter, bark, as a mulch, or dug in, helps promote this texture, without which clay soils would support little plant growth. I used compost it helped in small amounts. Plants to try courtesy of 'How Stuff Works: 'birch, Paul's Scarlet (Crataegus), ornamental elders, wild cherry (Prunus avium) and Sorbus aucuparia. Clay-loving shrubs include aucuba, chaenomeles, dogwood (cornus), Contorta (Corylus avellana), elaeagnus, hydrangea, philadelphus, pyracantha, ribes, shrub roses, Rubus cockburnianus, salix and viburnum
Clay soil is one problem, which you can remedy over time by adding organic matter to it. Having standing water is a another much more difficult problem. Very few plants like to sit with their roots in water for long periods, unless they are aquatic or pond marginal plants. All the shrubs listed will sadly just die and rot if they sit with wet feet. Can you put drainage in to take the water away? Have you thought of the wonderful opportunity this gives you for creating a pond/bog garden? Visit your local garden centre to see which plants are happy with the temperatures/rain fall that you have. In the U.K. I would suggest Astilbes, Rodgersia, Dameras etc for a pond margin... however I do not know if they will suit your climate.
My first thought was a pond too! With clay like that, you might not need a liner. Any member of the impatiens family loves to be wet all the time. I grow several varieties, some 8' tall and all like wet feet. The little common flowering ones will grow bare root in the pond and bloom like crazy. Watercress makes an excellent gound cover, is perennial even here under 3' of snow all winter, is good in a salad and pretty with little white flowers all over it. It will also grow bare root in water, no soil needed, so it will probably do well in a bog as long as you don't let it dry out for too long. Root a few pieces from the grocery store. You can at least make a good bog. There are lots of bog plants out there.
