Plants for Sandy Soil
By Rachel Anderson, Community Landscape Specialist, Nebraska Forest Service and Nebraska Statewide Arboretum
Lanceleaf coreopsis, with sunburstblooms and seedheads favored by goldfinches, couldn’t be happier in sandy soil.
If you’re sitting on sandy soil and don’t have a flower garden, please do start growing one immediately. The rest of us—who sigh with disappointment every time we read “must have well-drained soil” in a nursery catalog—can’t let you waste this opportunity lying at your feet.
Sand, the largest of soil particles (and the only one visible to the naked eye), is no stranger to the state and can be found along the Platte River lands and all over the Sandhills. Characterized by excellent drainage, low fertility, and resistance to compaction, sandy soil creates a truly unique setting for landscaping in Nebraska. If you are willing to leave behind the nutrient- and water-loving specimens often featured in magazines (astilbe, bleeding heart, hellebore, hardy hibiscus, viburnum, hydrangea, daylily), you will find a whole new palette of plants worth their salt in color, texture and toughness. Fold in compost for a boost in nutrient and moisture retention, and the possibilities are striking.
Pineleaf penstemon features hot red trumpet flowers in June that attract hummingbirds.
Not only do prairie natives seem to behave better in sandier conditions—what flops for someone else can stand straight for you (little bluestem, blazingstar), what stretches to six feet for them may stay content at four (big bluestem, milkweed)—but the saturated reds, blues and oranges you usually have to drive to the Rocky Mountains to see are suddenly growable at home. Just don’t jeopardize the good thing you’ve got going: avoid over-mulching and overirrigating, which can both cause rot in most xeric plants. In other words, if you find it wilting, don’t run for the hose; replace it with something else that will appreciate its circumstances. And less mulch might mean more weeds until things fill in, but sandy soil makes pulling or hoeing them almost fun.
Try these flowers for sand:
Purples, Pinks and Blues:
Garden salvia, Salvia nemorosa
Dianthus, Dianthus cultivars
Penstemon, P. strictus, P. grandiflorus, P. x mexicale
Resonous skullcap, Scutellaria resinosa
Hummingbird mint, Agastache rupestris
Purple prairie clover, Dalea purpurea
Blazingstar, Liatris punctata, L. squarrosa
Prairie flax, Linum lewisii
Appleblossom grass, Gaura lindheimeri
Purple poppymallow, Callirhoe involucrata
Whites and Greens:
Fendler’s aster, Aster fendleri
Prairie sage, Artemisa ludoviciana, A. frigida
Cushion spurge, Euphorbia polychroma Yellows, reds and oranges
Oriental poppy, Papaver orientale
Butterfly milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa
Lanceleaf coreopsis, Coreopsis lanceolata
California fuschia, Zauscheneria garrettii
Pineleaf penstemon, Penstemon pinifolius
Yarrow, Achillea cultivars
Torchlily, Kniphofia uvaria
Primrose, Calylophus serrulatus, Oenothera macrocarpa
Prairie zinnia, Zinnia grandiflora
Skyrocket gilia, Ipomopsis aggregata
Lupine, Thermopsis villosa, T. montan
Grasses:
Grama, Bouteloua curtipendula, B. hirsutus, B. gracilis
Little bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium
Sand lovegrass, Eragrostis trichodes
Plains muhly, Muhlenbergia cuspidata
Junegrass, Koeleria macrantha
Blue oat grass, Helictotrichon sempervirens
Blue fescue, Festuca ovina
Buffalograss, Buchloe dactyloides
And for part sun:
Balloonflower, Platycodon grandiflorus
Sprengel’s sedge, Carex sprengellii
Appalachian sedge, Carex appalachica
Prairie petunia, Ruellia humilis
Dwarf spiderwort, Tradescantia tharpii
Fremont’s clematis, Clematis fremontii
Pussytoes, Antennaria parviflora
Birdsfoot violet, Viola pedata
Ornamental onion, Allium senescens var. glaucum, A. stellatum, A. cernuum
Yellow columbine, Aquilegia chrysantha