Here are some plants I recommend for clay soil. Those marked with ♦ are native or have native species available. The staff at your local fine nursery will have additional suggestions.

 

Trees that tolerate clay soil
NAME	BOTNICAL NAME	DESCRIPTION
♦ River birch	Betula nigra ‘Heritage’ and others	Beautiful bark and yellow fall color
♦ Green Ash	Fraxinus pennsylvanica	Good form, great shade tree
♦ Larch	Larix spp.	A deciduous conifer with yellow fall color
♦ Witch Hazel	Hamamelis virginiana	Late autumn fragrant flowers, yellow fall color
Weeping willow	Salix spp.	Iconic tree but the messiest imaginable
♦ Bald cypress	Taxodium disichum	Deciduous conifer, bronze fall color, can form “knees”
♦ Arborvitae	Thuja occidentalis many cvs.	Readily available evergreen, fast grower, versatile, but deer browse on it
♦ Black Haw Viburnum	Viburnum prunifolium	Tough small tree, white flowers, red fall color, fruit for birds, tolerates shade
Shrubs that tolerate clay soil
♦ Serviceberry	Amelanchier	Red fruit and fall color
♦ Bluestar	Amsonia hubrichtii	Blue flowers, fine-textured leaves turn yellow to peach in fall. Great massed.
Flowering quince	Chaenomeles cvs.	Colorful spring flowers, fruit for jelly
♦ Summersweet	Clethra alnifolia cvs.	Fragrant flowers in late summer and yellow fall foliage
♦ Red twig dogwood	Cornus sericea ssp.	Prune old stems annually for best showy winter stems
Grapeholly	Mahonia cvs.	Bold-textured broad-leaved evergreen with late winter blue fruit that birds relish, deer do not browse
♦ Ninebark	Physocarpus opuifolius ‘Diabolo’	Purple-leaved, tough, versatile, can be cut back for best new growth, ornamental bark
♦ Elderberry	Sambucus canadensis	Graceful foliage, flat-topped white flowers produce fruit relished by birds (and good for pies)
♦ Viburnum	Viburnum trilobum and V. dentatum	Red fruit and fall color
Perennials that tolerate clay soil
♦ Anise hyssop	Agastache foeniculum cvs.	Long lasting blue flowers, bees love this plant
♦ Swamp milkweed	Asclepias ssp.	Essential food source for butterfly caterpillars
♦ Blue false indigo	Baptisia australis	Blue-purple lupine-like flowers early in spring, adds nitrogen to soil
♦ Purple coneflower	Echinacea purpurea cvs.	Every garden must have, attracts butterflies
♦ Joe-Pye weed	Eupatorium fistulosum	Tall, attracts butterflies
Daylily	Hemerocallis spp. and cvs.	Every garden must have daylilies
Hosta	Hosta spp. and cvs.	Indispensible shade plant, deer love
♦ Blue Lobelia	Lobelia siphilitica	Deep blue flowers in late summer, forms colonies, butterflies attracted
♦ Ostrich Fern	Matteuccia struthiopteris	Beautiful tall fern but very aggressive and hard to confine. Better to use Osmunda fern species with their dramatic cinnamon-brown fruiting stalks
♦ Virginia bluebells	Mertensia virginica	Early spring bloomer, wonderful massed in woodland, goes dormant after flowering
Rodgersia	Rodgersia spp. and cvs.	Bold textured
♦ Cupplant	Silphium perfoliatum	Tall, single best species for attracting birds, especially goldfinches. Seeds aggressively
♦ Ironweed	Vernonia novaboracensis	Fluffy brilliant purple flowers, tall, for the background of borders. Will seed around, good for wildflower gardens.
Groundcover that tolerates clay soil
Bugleweed	Ajuga reptans many cvs.	The definitive groundcover for clay soil, spreads