Clay soils can be difficult to cultivate.  We have special mixes for clay soils

Perennial wildflowers seem to do better in clay and heavy soils, where annuals like to be sown into disturbed soil and clay soils are better suited to grazing and hay-making than they are to ploughing and harvesting crops.

Some of the species that cope well with the challenges of clay soils:

Yarrow
Yarrow is particularly successful in clay soils. It has a strong root system that can cope with the challenging soil structure and it doesn’t seem to mind wet or dry. It’s a robust plant that flowers in mid-late summer and is great for providing pollen and nectar after the main flush of early summer wildflowers has finished.

Oxeye Daisy
These flowers remind me of happy faces. They’re the flowers I used to draw as a child, a big yellow centre surrounded by petals. Of all the wildflowers I grow in my garden it’s oxeye daisies, campions, yarrow, and plantain that seem to cope best with higher fertility….and clay soils are prone to be higher fertility.

Musk Mallow
With big dusky pink blooms on this plant – a favourite with honeybees. A strong plant with enormous leaves and plenty of height.

Cowslip
Common and beautiful, one of the harbingers of spring.

Birdsfoot Trefoil
With bright yellow flowers, these are such a good all-rounder. Easy to grow and they’re leguminous –adding nitrogen to the soil.

Red Clover
Another favourite with the bees. Clover thrives in clay soil and often stays green when drought has made other plants dormant.

Ragged Robin
Pink with irregular, tattered petals.

White Campion
Easy to grow and very grow maintenance.

Teasel
A long taproot makes teasel a robust plant and its tall, architectural seed heads are a great way of attracting birds to the garden.
Other Wildflowers For Clay Soil; Ribwort Plantain, Common knapweed, Selfheal, Meadow buttercup, St Johns Wort, Tufted Vetch, Wild Carrot, Wild Clary, Lady’s Bedstraw