plant advice needed please

hi i have been asked to make a plant list for beds and borders on a ex landfil site there is about 24 inches of soil b4 hitting house hold waste. the site gets the sun most of the day and the weeds and self seeded plants are doing very well. any ideas for indistructable plants trees whatever would be greatly appreciated
chris

Landfil site

Reply from Tracey James

Hi Chris

What type of planting are you being asked to produce? Any particular style? If the area is not too large I would consider some soil improvement and perhaps add a bit more to the soil depth by importing some topsoil before moving on to planting. A large rockery area would elevate that particular planting well above 'what lies beneath'.

Mary, Mary

Somerset

landfil site

Reply from christopher sheridan

hi thanks very much for your reply there is no planting scheme required. but the area is a car park so does not need to look amazing thankfully just needs to be plants instead of weeds. i will add as much soil improver as possible but it wont be enough unfortunatley. a good option would be to raise the beds but the budget will not strech that far. i guess shallow rooted plants will have the best chance.

Plants for dry, sunny, poor soil

Reply from Kathy C

Hi, Christopher,
I guess I would choose Mediterrean plants that like dry, sunny poor soil conditions. Some are hardy, a few borderline hardy but here are a few suggestions:
- Cistus x cyprius - gorgeous, evergreen plant with white flowers in early summer. Most Cistus would do great in the area you described.
- Euphorbia - especially Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii
- Phlomis - three perennials I would recommend - P. fruticosa, P. russeliana, & P. italica
- Verbascum olympicum or bombyciferum
- Yuccas - most types will do
- Carpenteria californica - a bit tender but lovely
- Grevillea - shrubs
- Genista - shrubs
- Eryngium - Sea holly - a perennial - many types to choose from
- Oenothera speciosa - perennial - can be invasive but that could be good if you want to cover a large area relatively quickly.
Have a look on this site for example/photos. You can also use this site to search for plants that match your criteria. Go under the tab 'Plants', then choose 'Select'. Once there, choose 'Advanced Search' and then enter the attributes you are looking for. You'll get loads more ideas! Happy searching and please let me know what you choose.
Kathy C.

landfil site

Reply from christopher sheridan

hi thanks very much for all your suggestions i will have a look and do some research on them as i mentioned to the other nice person that replied the area is the beds around a car park so my main priority is finding tough plants rather than nice ones unfortunately. do you think shallow rooted plants will survive best?

Tough plants for area described

Reply from Kathy C

Hi, Chris,
In that case, you might want to go with Senecio (also under the botanical name Brachyglottis). Tough, pollution/people tolerant, gets some flowers and have grey-green, evergreen leaves. Not a favourite, but a toughy. Another choice would be Choisya which can also take a lot of abuse.
Kathy C.