How to Select Perennials for Sandy Soil

Growing perennials in dry, sandy soil can be a real challenge. You can usually reduce the problem by adding a large amount of top soil, but it usually washes away after a season or two. By choosing perennials that actually thrive in sandy soil, you can create a colorful garden in even the toughest conditions.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Perennials
• Organic compost
• Peat moss
• Vermiculite

1. Choose perennials that actually prefer sandy soil when you plan your spring garden. Select such colorful varieties as yarrow, golden marguerite, butterfly weed, wild indigo, spurge, yucca, lantana, sage, plumbago, purple heart, gaura and blaket flower. These perennials need no soil amendments to produce stunning and colorful blossoms.

2. Start a bed of lilies when you select the right perennials for sandy soil. Both day lilies and blackberry lilies prefer such soil conditions, and their relatively early season means that you can produce color in your yard before anyone else in your neighborhood. You can even store dormant bulbs in the dry, sandy soil if you mix in a little peat moss or vermiculite to keep everything moist.

3. Prepare your soil properly before you select sand-loving perennials for your garden. You will need to break up wet sand, since it can clump up and restrict the flow of oxygen to root systems. If your sand is completely dry, you may need to amend it with peat moss or vermiculite to help retain moisture throughout the growing season.

4. Consult a respected gardening book such as "All About Perennials," published by Ortho, the garden experts. You can find it at Amazon.com (see Resources below).

5. Select perennials that thrive in sandy soil by consulting with a local horticulturist. Such experts offer recommendations based upon the actual performance of these perennials in your local area, and they even offer tips about how to amend your soil on a seasonal basis. You can also ask your neighbors about the success they have had in planting various types of perennials in sandy soil. Take a tour of your neighborhood, and write down the names of any perennials that seem to be thriving and producing color.

Tips & Warnings

• You can increase the variety of perennials that thrive in your sandy soil if you amend your flowerbeds with plenty of organic material, such as compost, just prior to planting. This will also help with some of the drainage issue you may experience with sandy soil.
• Note that common yarrow, a perennial that thrives in sandy soil, also provides blooms throughout much of the growing season. In most cases, yarrow blooms may last up to 10 weeks or more under normal weather conditions.

Resources

• Amazon.com for