14 Plants That Thrive in Clay Soil

If you need something to make your landscape really stand out, this list will help. These high-impact perennials offer bold textures, bountiful color and rugged durability. They will make a splash to wake up the neighborhood while addressing those mundane spaces in your garden. Castor bean, for instance offers huge, lobed leaves, interesting ornamental fruits and somewhat showy flowers. It's lush foliage adds a tropical look to temperate gardens. Hardy in zones 9-11, and grown as a warm season annual in cooler regions, it may grow to 10' tall in a single season.

Iris species, including Japanese, Louisiana, bearded and more, tend to perform very well on heavy soil. Different varieties of these sun loving, spring and summer bloomers are available for all parts of North America.

Ornamental grasses do very well in clay. Choose from dwarf fountain grass, mid-sized silvergrass and switchgrass, or large pampas grass. All of these sun lovers produce beautiful textures, colors and movement in the perennial garden or shrub border.

Heuchera, or coral bells, is a clay soil choice that offers some of the greatest diversity of foliage color of any perennial genus. From "natural" green, to chartreuse, to deep purple, to salmon and more, there is a heuchera to accent any dappled-sunlight garden. In warmer climates they are semi-evergreen to evergreen.