Guides · Soil
What to plant in loam
How to know you have it: It crumbles into a ball that breaks when you prod it, drains but stays damp, and smells like a garden.
Loam is the soil everything is sold for, and if you have it the plant list is not the constraint — exposure, climate zone and your own maintenance appetite are.
The only real risk with good soil is over-planting it. Everything grows, so a bed planted at nursery spacing becomes a thicket in three years and the pruning never ends. Plant at mature spacing and accept two seasons of visible ground, mulched.
The second risk is losing what you have. Loam is a structure, not just a substance: compaction from a builder's mixer or a summer of foot traffic ruins it faster than any plant can. Keep circulation on the paths you have drawn.
The four rules
- 01Plant at mature spacing, not at how it looks the first summer.
- 02Mulch instead of digging: keep the structure that makes it loam.
- 03Keep barrows and traffic on the paths, especially in a wet build.
- 04Choose by exposure and hardiness — your soil has ruled nothing out.
What we plant in loam
These are the species our own plant database will draw from for a site on loam — 4 trees, 2 hedging species, 7 shrubs, 4 grasses, 6 perennials, 4 edibles. Prices are French retail nursery prices per plant, 2026, at the pot size given.
| Species | Type | Height | Spacing | Price | Why it belongs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Field mapleAcer campestre · Érable champêtre | tree | 8,00 m | 6,00 m | 165 € | The reliable small native canopy for heavy ground; takes clay and wind without sulking. |
| OliveOlea europaea · Olivier | tree | 5,00 m | 5,00 m | 240 € | Needs sharp drainage; on clay it is planted on a raised gravel mound, never in a sump. |
| Snowy mespilusAmelanchier lamarckii · Amélanchier | tree | 5,00 m | 4,00 m | 145 € | Three seasons out of one small tree: white blossom, edible fruit, red autumn. |
| Sweet cherryPrunus avium · Cerisier | tree | 7,00 m | 6,00 m | 78 € | Prune only in summer: a winter cut on a cherry invites bacterial canker. |
| HornbeamCarpinus betulus · Charme | hedge | 2,00 m | 0,33 m | 6 € | Holds its brown leaf through winter and is the cheapest good hedge on clay. |
| SilverberryElaeagnus × ebbingei · Chalef | hedge | 2,50 m | 0,60 m | 15 € | Evergreen, salt- and wind-proof: the hedge for an exposed or coastal boundary. |
| Cotton lavenderSantolina chamaecyparissus · Santoline | shrub | 0,50 m | 0,50 m | 8 € | Silver mounds that hold their shape all winter and ask for nothing. |
| Japanese hollyIlex crenata 'Dark Green' · Houx crénelé | shrub | 0,60 m | 0,50 m | 14 € | Used instead of box: same clipped form, and box moth does not touch it. |
| LaurustinusViburnum tinus · Laurier-tin | shrub | 2,50 m | 1,20 m | 16 € | Evergreen screen that flowers in January, which is when you need it. |
| LavenderLavandula × intermedia 'Grosso' · Lavandin | shrub | 0,80 m | 0,60 m | 9 € | Dies of wet feet, not of cold. On clay it goes on a 20 cm gravel ridge. |
| Panicled hydrangeaHydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' · Hortensia paniculé | shrub | 2,00 m | 1,20 m | 18 € | The one hydrangea that takes real sun in the north and heavy soil everywhere. |
| Rock roseCistus × purpureus · Ciste | shrub | 1,20 m | 1,00 m | 12 € | Flowers for six weeks on poor ground and resents being fed. |
| RosemarySalvia rosmarinus · Romarin | shrub | 1,20 m | 0,80 m | 11 € | Evergreen structure and a kitchen crop from the same plant. |
| Autumn moor grassSesleria autumnalis · Seslérie d'automne | grass | 0,50 m | 0,40 m | 7 € | Plant in blocks as a low matrix: it closes the ground and stops weeding. |
| Golden oatsStipa gigantea · Avoine géante | grass | 1,80 m | 1,00 m | 13 € | Holds its structure through winter and catches low western light. |
| Japanese forest grassHakonechloa macra · Herbe du Japon | grass | 0,40 m | 0,40 m | 12 € | The best grass for shade, and it never seeds itself where you did not want it. |
| Purple moor grassMolinia caerulea 'Transparent' · Molinie | grass | 1,40 m | 0,70 m | 11 € | One of the few good grasses for heavy, damp ground. |
| Hardy geraniumGeranium × oxonianum 'Claridge Druce' · Géranium vivace | perennial | 0,50 m | 0,50 m | 6 € | Covers ground under shrubs on heavy soil and asks for one cut a year. |
| Lenten roseHelleborus × hybridus · Hellébore | perennial | 0,50 m | 0,50 m | 14 € | Flowers in February under the canopy, when nothing else does. |
| Mediterranean spurgeEuphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii · Euphorbe des garrigues | perennial | 1,10 m | 0,80 m | 10 € | Architectural all winter. Wear gloves: the sap burns skin in sunlight. |
| Soft shield fernPolystichum setiferum · Polystic à soies | perennial | 0,70 m | 0,60 m | 11 € | Evergreen fern, unfazed by dry shade once its second year is past. |
| Wood sageSalvia nemorosa 'Caradonna' · Sauge des bois | perennial | 0,60 m | 0,40 m | 7 € | Flowers twice if you cut it back hard after the first flush. |
| YarrowAchillea 'Terracotta' · Achillée | perennial | 0,70 m | 0,50 m | 7 € | Flat heads that read well against grasses, and it does not need staking on poor soil. |
| Autumn raspberryRubus idaeus 'Zeva' · Framboisier remontant | edible | 1,60 m | 0,50 m | 7 € | An autumn variety is cut to the ground each February: no canes to tie in. |
| BlackcurrantRibes nigrum 'Andega' · Cassis | edible | 1,50 m | 1,50 m | 12 € | Fruits on last year's wood: take a third of the oldest stems out every winter. |
| Garden mintMentha spicata · Menthe verte | edible | 0,60 m | 0,40 m | 5 € | Only ever planted in a sunken pot. In open ground it takes the bed. |
| StrawberryFragaria × ananassa 'Mara des Bois' · Fraisier | edible | 0,25 m | 0,35 m | 4 € | Replace the plants every third year: yield halves after that. |
What we would not plant here
Each of these is a good plant on the ground it was bred for, and a mistake on yours. This is the list our own palette leaves out for a site on loam.
- 01Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) — wants sand or chalk: it wants sharper drainage than good soil gives it.
Soil is one of three filters. Hardiness decides whether a plant survives your winter, exposure decides whether it flowers, and only then does soil matter. A plant list that ignores any of the three is decoration.