Plants for Clay Soil

Everything I plant in my clay soil withers away. What plants will grow well in these conditions?

—Mary Grippi, Ashtabula, Ohio

Melinda: Clay soil requires frequent attention to maintain good growing conditions for your plants. Improve the soil by adding organic matter like compost or peat moss when planting and transplanting, and mulch planted areas with shredded leaves and other natural materials. Then try planting some flowers, like black-eyed Susans, that can tolerate and break through the clay soil. Purple coneflower, bee balm, switchgrass, heliopsis and goldenrod are a few more sun-loving perennials that will get your garden off to a good start.