You'd be more than welcome to use the backhoe, but it'll take me a while to drive there on it ;)
Sounds to me like perfect conditions for sedum, Russian sage, artemesia-most of the silver leaved plants like really dry crappy soil. I've got daylilies along the roadside ditch that is pretty dry, although not sand. I kind of took my cue from all the wild "ditch lilies" that grow along the roads here.
Lemme know about the backhoe...I could be there in about a week and a half, lol! Good luck with your project!
Brenda

Euonymus, most ornamental grasses, sediums and most bulbs including lilies do well in sandy coastal regions. Hope this helps - Jessica

Actually this isn't coastal sand...it's construction sand...and inland about 50 miles...does that make a difference?
Thanks for the 'silver-leaf' notation; that's HUGELY helpful!
And bulbs...really? Is that because most of their nutri-quirements are in the bulb already?

If you add a lot of oragnic stuff...just lay it on top you won't have nutrient problems.
4 years ago I planted hosta in gravel. I cut down some bushes, under a big maple, that had been mulched with rock for years and re mulched and it was about 7 or 8 inches thick and full of decaying leaves and and pine needlas etc.
Never removed the stump nor the roots, nor the gravel. I pried small holes in that awful quartz rock and stuck some starts of hosta in the holes, and covered it all up with wood chips. Less than 2 years later it was cram jammed full....hosta touching each other. No fertilizer...just mulch and lots of water.
You won't be able to do lots of water, unless you have a very long hose...but my point is, there will be enough nutrients for you plants, and the stuff you pile on breaking down will add enough and in 2 or 3 years you will have lovely plantings.
Queen Ann';s lace grows well in gravelly spots as does ox eye daisy, some ornamental grasses, iris to name a few.
Linda C

Sedums will grow in construction sand. Mine was moved next to the garage which is almost pure sand and rock. I only planted it there because I didn't really like it and figured I wouldn't be sad if it died. It's been perfectly happy and grows and blooms every year. I didn't water it much when I moved it either.

Other plants that really like lean conditions include lavender, Belamcanda, most Nepetas, Lychnis coronaria, and western Agastaches--A. cana, A. rupestris, and others.

Some of the plants that I have growing in compost amended sandy gravel are:
Veronica incana, creeping thymes,bear berry(arctostaphylos 'Massachusetts'),sedums,lavender,dianthus, stachys-lamb's ears, phlox subulata,nepetas,roman chamomile,
juniper,nine bark,Korean lilac and catharanthus(madagascar periwinkle)

I have a front border that runs along the side of the road. It is dry, hot, and sandy and extremely well-drained. I don't water it very much at all (only if something was recently planted).

Sometimes I mulch new plantings with a little compost and I let the leaves that accumulate there in the fall stay put and decompose and mulch between the perennials. Otherwise I do very little in this area.

The following grows very well along there:

Assorted bulbs
Hemerocallis
Allium
Iris
Echinacea
Asclepias tuberosa
Rudbeckia
Gaillardia
Grasses

What a help you folks all are. Thank you so much!