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Landscape Plants for Difficult Sites

© Georgeann Hall

Most landscapes are not perfect, some are hot and dry, others are wet. Sometimes the soil is sandy or poor, or maybe a garden is exposed to the harsh elements. So we often we have to make the best of the what we have. Plants exist which tolerate extreme conditions better than others and I have compiled some lists of plants suitable for the various conditions anyone might have to face in the landscape.

PLANTS WHICH TOLERATE CLAY SOILS:
Hedge Maple, Red Maple, Silver Maple, River Birch, Hawthorn, Ash, Locust, Golden Rain Tree, Sweet Gum, Crab Apple, Spruce, Pear, Willow, Bald Cypress, Elm, Barberry, Quince, Dogwood shrub types, Deutzia, Euonymus, Forsythia, Witch Hazel, Junipers, Beauty Bush, Privet, Honeysuckle, Bayberry, Pyracantha, Sumac, Rugosa Rose, Spirea, Stephanandra, Yews, Arborvitae, Viburnum.

PLANTS WHICH TOLERATE MOIST SOILS:
Red Maple, Sugar Maple, Serviceberry, River Birch, Ash, Locust, Larch, Sweetgum, Tupelo, Photinia, Poplar, Pin Oak, Willow, Bald Cypress, Red and Yellow-twig dogwoods, Deutzia, Forsythia, Filbert, Inkberry holly, Virginia Sweetspire, Mountain Laurel, Leucothoe, Privet, Bayberry, Rosebay Rhododendron, Arborvitae, Viburnum, Feather Reed Grass, Blood Grass, Miscanthus, Fountain Grass, Ribbon Grass.

PLANTS WHICH TOLERATE POOR,DRY SOILS:

Hedge Maple, Silver Maple, Birch, Filbert, Hawthorn, Ash, Locust, Golden Rain Tree, White Pine, Elm, Barberry, Butterfly Bush, Quince, Smoketree, Scotch Broom, Lydia Broom, Heather, Juniper, Kerria, Beauty Bush, Privet, Bayberry, Mock Orange, Potentilla, Rugosa Rose, Viburnum, Yucca.

PLANTS WHICH TOLERATE EXPOSED SITES:

Red Maple, Serviceberry, Birch, Hornbeam,Hawthorn, Beech, Ginkgo, Locust, Scotch Pine, Austrian Pine, Quaking Aspen, Oak, Willow, Mountain Ash, Linden, Bearberry, Barberry, Heather, Carolina Allspice, Yellow and Red Twig dogwoods, Smoke Tree, Cotoneaster, Euonymus, P.G. Hydrangea, Juniper, Mountain Laurel, Mock Orange, Spirea, Yew, Arborvitae, Viburnum.

PLANTS WHICH TOLERATE URBAN CONDITIONS:

Barberry, Butterfly Bush, Quince, Fringetree, Summersweet, Corneliancherry Dogwood, Euonymus, Forsythia, Hibiscus, Hydrangea, Hypericum, Japanese Holly, Blue Holly, Leucothoe, Privet, Silver Maple, Hornbeam, False Cypress, Hawthorn, Beech, Ash, Ginkgo, Locust, Honeysuckle, Star Magnolia, Oregon Holly Grape, Bayberry, Potentilla, Pyracantha, Rugosa Rose, Willow, Spirea, Lilac, Yew, Viburnum, Wisteria, Yucca.

PLANTS WHICH TOLERATE SHADE:

Hedge Maple, Serviceberry, Redbud, Fringetree, Flowering Dogwood, Magnolia, Bearberry, Barberry, Carolina Allspice, Sweetshrub, Sweetfern, Euonymus, Filbert, Hydrangea, Virginia Sweetspire, Mountain Laurel, Leucothoe, Privet, Honeysuckle, Oregon Holly Grape, Siberian Cypress, Honeysuckle, Pieris, Pyracantha, Rhododendron, Yew, Arborvitae, Hemlock, Viburnum.

PLANTS RESISTANT TO DEER:

Maple, Birch, Hornbeam, Redbud, Dogwood, Ash, Hawthorn, Beech, Ginkgo, Larch, Sweetgum, Tulip Tree, Magnolia, Tupelo, Spruce, Sycamore, Oak, Willow, Bald Cypress, Linden, Elm, Japanese Zelkova, Barberry, Boxwood, Blue Mist Spirea, Quince, Sweetshrub, Cotoneaster, Smoke Tree, Scotch Broom, Forsythia, Filbert, Inkberry Holly, Juniper, Kerria, Leucothoe, Privet, Honeysuckle, Oregon Holly Grape, Bayberry, Mock Orange, Potentilla, Pieris, Pyracantha, Spirea, Lilac, Viburnum, Weigela.

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