what plants are drought tolerant for sandy soil?
Sandy soil or clay, here’s the dirt on what to plant
Thursday, January 24, 2002
By MARTY WINGATE
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Not every gardener gets good dirt.
In fact, the coveted sandy loam is uncommon in this area. Most of us get dirt with too much clay or too much sand — and that creates a challenge when it comes to picking the right plants for the soil.
Add in the amount of sun or shade your plants must deal with, and it gets complicated. But don’t worry — this week we’ll help you make the right choices, whether you have sand or clay, full sun or gloomy shade.
You can try to “fix” your dirt by incorporating organic matter, but that’s often too big a project for an entire garden.
A herbaceous perennial native to Texas, Gaura lindheimeri or ‘Siskyou Pink,’ right, does well in sandy soil. Monrovia Photo.
An organic mulch goes a long way toward correcting the conditions typical in clay or sandy soils — either poor or too-fast drainage. In clay soils, that prevents (at least for a while) the soil from becoming waterlogged; in sandy soils, it helps retain moisture that would otherwise evaporate quickly.
Following are suggestions for plants that tolerate either clay or sandy soils, but before you think you’ve found your Xanadu, be sure to find out if those annoying pockets of soil around your garden really are clay or sand.
Clay or sand?
Here’s an easy way to find out if the soil in a certain part of your garden is clay or sand (we can have several types of soil in even small gardens): Take a handful of wet soil and squeeze. Then open your hand, and poke a finger at the resulting clod. If it breaks apart easily, it isn’t clay.
You also can observe how the soil drains. Begin with soil that is already moistened. Scrape aside any existing mulch, and dig a hole about 6 inches deep. Pour water into the hole, and watch how long it takes for the water to drain completely.
Clay soils drain slowly (sometimes the water seems to just sit there), sandy soils drain quickly. The enviable sandy loam — a soil high in sand, but with organic matter and even a little clay — is somewhere in between.
Remember that the drainage time can be affected by a number of elements, including hardpan close to the surface, compaction, slopes or a high water table. And unless you’re interested in making concrete, don’t add sand to clay soils.
Clay soil certainly doesn’t inhibit the growth of Gunnera manicata, a perennial whose massive leaves measure 6 feet or more across. MARTY WINGATE
Plants for clay soil
Western white pine (Pinus monticola) — Pacific Northwest native to 60 feet tall and 20 feet wide; can be seen in nature in standing bogs; full sun.
Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) — Accommodating deciduous tree that takes heavy or light soils; to 60 feet high (‘Fastigiata’ is shorter — to 30 feet high and wide); full sun.
Sourgum (Oxydendrum arboreum) — Deciduous tree to about 30 feet high and 20 feet wide; bright orange fall foliage; flowers similar to Pieris; full sun.
Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus) — Deciduous shrub up to 10 feet high and wide; dark maroon flowers in early summer are sweetly fragrant; part shade.
Korean boxwood (Buxus microphylla) — Evergreen shrub good for hedging; many cultivars that typically grow from 1 foot (‘Morris Midget’) to 6 feet (‘Green Beauty’); part shade.
Douglas spiraea (Spiraea douglasii) — Northwest native shrub to 6 feet high and continuous spread; will live in seasonally wet soil that dries out in summer; spikes of fuzzy mauve-pink flowers in summer; full sun.
Purpleosier willow (Salix purpurea) — Deciduous shrub to 15 feet high and wide (‘Nana’ to only 5 feet); thin purple stems, purple buds and narrow blue-gray leaves, but no showy catkins; full sun.
Astilbe hybrids and cultivars — Herbaceous perennial prefers constant moisture; feathery plumes of flowers (mostly in white or shades of pink) in June; shade.
Bugbane (Cimicifuga) — Herbaceous perennial 4 feet high and 2 feet wide; plumes of flowers in fall, either white or pink; ‘Brunette’ has dark foliage, ‘Hillside Black Beauty’ even darker; sun or light shade; Cimicifuga is now in the genus Actea.
Gunnera manicata — Showstopping perennial growing from a clump with leaves that are 6 feet or more across (that’s one leaf); needs lots of water in dry spells; part shade.
Plants for sandy soil
Shore pine (Pinus contorta) — Native Northwest pine to about 30 feet high and wide; informal, irregular shape adds interest to the garden; full sun.
Incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) — Conifer native to Oregon and into California; rugged bark and beautiful sprays of foliage that are held somewhat vertically; eventually up to 75 feet with a 15-foot spread; interesting choice for a Seattle street tree (Second Avenue in Belltown); full sun.
Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia cultivars) — Deciduous shrubs with shiny foliage tinted red, marbled bark with age, late-summer spikes of flowers, fine fall color; growth is vase-shaped, sizes vary: ‘Acoma’ (white flowers) and ‘Sioux’ (pink flowers) grow to 10 feet, ‘Potomac’ (coral-pink flowers) to 20 feet, ‘Osage’ (pink) to 20 feet; full sun.
Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) — Evergreen tree to 25 feet high and wide (‘Compacta’ to 15 feet) with clean foliage and cinnamon bark. Clusters of white, heatherlike flowers through fall and bumpy red fruit in winter; full sun or part shade.
California lilac (Ceanothus) — Evergreen shrubs of all sizes, usually with blue flowers (occasionally white) in summer; flowers loved by bees. C. velutinus (white flowers) is native on the east side of the Cascades; full sun.
Escallonia — Evergreen shrubs that flower sporadically throughout the year with clusters of pink flowers; look best left to arching form, may be cut down in hard winters; full sun.
Bluebeard (Caroyopteris x clandonensis) — Deciduous shrub to about 3 feet high and wide; light, gray-green foliage and late-summer blue flowers (‘Blue Knight’ dark blue); full sun.
Gaura lindheimeri — Herbaceous perennial native to Texas; grows with a basal rosette of leaves and long, lax 4-foot stems of flowers either white (‘Whirling Butterflies) or pink (‘Siskiyou Pink’); full sun.
Corydalis lutea — Perennial; evergreen in mild winters; to 18 inches high and 2 feet wide; ferny foliage and almost constant yellow flowers that are small, with little tails; reseeds to the annoyance of some gardeners; part shade.
And don’t forget Mediterranean herbs for dry soils and full sun — rosemary, thyme and sage.
——————————————————————————–
Marty Wingate is a Seattle-based free-lance garden writer with a master’s degree in urban horticulture. Her articles appear on Thursdays. She can be contacted by mail in care of the P-I, 101 Elliott Ave. W., Seattle, WA 98119, or via e-mail at: martywin@qwest.net.
Xeriscaping: native plants and a drought-tolerant yard (LEED landscape in Sun Valley, Idaho)
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