Plants that have survived our clay, a cold winter and torrential rain
The soil in this garden is as heavy as it gets. Typically for clay, it also bakes to concrete in the summer. It is hard to know when to work it: one minute it is unwalkable, the next rock solid. Over time the answer will be soil improvement, and I am planning to do far more mulching with straw in the future (unfortunately we have few mature trees at the top of the garden, although our limes and hazels supply a little leaf litter, left where it falls).
In the first winter temperatures fell to well below -15 degrees centigrade. This winter (2013/2014) has been very mild, but we've endured endless rain. This combination of conditions can be very tricky for plants. This is a list of those plants that have survived these conditions in this garden. (Please note: this is not a complete list of suitable plants, simply those plants which have done well here over two seasons.) I hope to add considerably to it in time (including filling out the notes), with the aim of providing information that may be useful for other gardeners.
Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl'
Anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert' At the moment it is just 'sitting', but these take time to establish in any case.
Artemesia 'Powis Castle' Not normally a plant for these conditions, I believe ours enjoy the warm wall behind them and the 'almost rubble' (rather than clay) in which they are growing. However, both winters I have taken cuttings as an insurance policy. Slightly dodgy plants (in terms of hardiness) such as 'Powis Castle' tend to have a better chance of pulling through if they are young.
Artemesia 'Lambrook Silver' With the same footnotes as for 'Powis Castle'
Aster novae-angliae & Aster novae-belgii
Cornus alba & Cornus stolonifera
Crambe cordifolia To be honest, a bit of a surprise, as I expected it to die.
Echinacea purpurea 'White Swan'
Eryngium spp/cultivars I expected these to do well, but two E. bourgatii 'Picos Blue' were planted in summer 2013 and only one seems to have pulled through our wet winter.
Geranium spp./cultivars These have surprised and disappointed me. They stay alive here, but are not spreading at all as well as they did in my previous gardens (also on clay). Presumably because the soil surrounding them is not (yet) appetising enough for a plant that likes to extend itself outwards every year. 'Johnson's Blue' is almost static, as is G. renardii. When I gardened on clay in Suffolk, these were both extremely happy. At the moment I can only dream of dividing them! 'Mrs Kendall Clark' (a cultivar of the meadow plant, G. pratense), on the other hand, is quite happy.
Helleborus orientalis, H. argutifolius ex 'Boughton Beauty' & H. niger
Iris germanica (which, I think, is the kind growing 'wild' in the village) & Iris sibirica
Knautia macedonica
Levisticum officinale (lovage)
Melissa officinalis (lemon balm)
Nepeta x faassenii 'Six Hills Giant'
Paeonia officinalis
Phlomis russeliana
Roses These don't do nearly as well for me here as they have in previous gardens. I suspect the soil structure is just so awful - and they've also had to contend with European chafers and water voles eating their roots. Some go into the ground and romp away, but a good proportion really struggle. This could be a function of cultivar or just the actual state of an individual plant. Those which are giving me most trouble are 'Cardinal de Richelieu' (surprisingly, as it's a strong-growing Gallica type), 'Gloire de Dijon' and 'Gertrude Jekyll' (also a surprise, as it's one of David Austen's tougher English roses).
Salix spp.
Rudbeckia laciniata
Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue'
Stachys byzantina
In the first winter temperatures fell to well below -15 degrees centigrade. This winter (2013/2014) has been very mild, but we've endured endless rain. This combination of conditions can be very tricky for plants. This is a list of those plants that have survived these conditions in this garden. (Please note: this is not a complete list of suitable plants, simply those plants which have done well here over two seasons.) I hope to add considerably to it in time (including filling out the notes), with the aim of providing information that may be useful for other gardeners.
Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl'
Anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert' At the moment it is just 'sitting', but these take time to establish in any case.
Artemesia 'Powis Castle' Not normally a plant for these conditions, I believe ours enjoy the warm wall behind them and the 'almost rubble' (rather than clay) in which they are growing. However, both winters I have taken cuttings as an insurance policy. Slightly dodgy plants (in terms of hardiness) such as 'Powis Castle' tend to have a better chance of pulling through if they are young.
Artemesia 'Lambrook Silver' With the same footnotes as for 'Powis Castle'
Aster novae-angliae & Aster novae-belgii
Cornus alba & Cornus stolonifera
Crambe cordifolia To be honest, a bit of a surprise, as I expected it to die.
Echinacea purpurea 'White Swan'
Eryngium spp/cultivars I expected these to do well, but two E. bourgatii 'Picos Blue' were planted in summer 2013 and only one seems to have pulled through our wet winter.
Geranium spp./cultivars These have surprised and disappointed me. They stay alive here, but are not spreading at all as well as they did in my previous gardens (also on clay). Presumably because the soil surrounding them is not (yet) appetising enough for a plant that likes to extend itself outwards every year. 'Johnson's Blue' is almost static, as is G. renardii. When I gardened on clay in Suffolk, these were both extremely happy. At the moment I can only dream of dividing them! 'Mrs Kendall Clark' (a cultivar of the meadow plant, G. pratense), on the other hand, is quite happy.
Helleborus orientalis, H. argutifolius ex 'Boughton Beauty' & H. niger
Iris germanica (which, I think, is the kind growing 'wild' in the village) & Iris sibirica
Knautia macedonica
Levisticum officinale (lovage)
Melissa officinalis (lemon balm)
Nepeta x faassenii 'Six Hills Giant'
Paeonia officinalis
Phlomis russeliana
Roses These don't do nearly as well for me here as they have in previous gardens. I suspect the soil structure is just so awful - and they've also had to contend with European chafers and water voles eating their roots. Some go into the ground and romp away, but a good proportion really struggle. This could be a function of cultivar or just the actual state of an individual plant. Those which are giving me most trouble are 'Cardinal de Richelieu' (surprisingly, as it's a strong-growing Gallica type), 'Gloire de Dijon' and 'Gertrude Jekyll' (also a surprise, as it's one of David Austen's tougher English roses).
Salix spp.
Rudbeckia laciniata
Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue'
Stachys byzantina