Amanda,

What kind of grass do you have? If it is bermuda grass, it likely will spread and cover the sand for you in all but the heaviest shade.

I think rose moss would grow there, but sand is very fast-draining and sterile, so I don't know how much you'll have to water and fertilize to keep it alive. In our narrow band of really, really sandy soil, the plants that do best for me are the ones that have really large roots like four o'clocks and cannas or those that tolerate a lot of dryness like gomphrena.

You mention full to partial shade, so I think four o'clocks (and maybe cannas) would do better than full-sun flowers like portulaca, purslane, or gomphrena.

Pure sand is a hard material to grow anything in because it doesn't hold water well at all. Are there any remains of dead plants left in that sand to indicate to you if something previously grew there? We have a lot of wildflowers in our sandy soil, but they are not long term....instead, there is a succession of bloom from many different types of wildflowers that each bloom for a few weeks.

Some plants that probably thrive in sand that is partially to fully shaded include pink evening primrose, purple Indian Painbrush, Meadow Pinks (bloom in our sand in April-May), Lazy Daisy, Prairie Verbena, Blackfoot Daisy, Mexican Hat, Greenthread Daisy, Yellow Plainsman, Cutleaf Daisy, and Yellow Native Zinnia and Sleepy Daisy. (Most of those are native wildflowers found in sandy soil.) Gazania daisies might thrive in the sand but I don't know if they'll get enough sun to bloom.

There's a native ground cover here in southern OK called partridgeberry that thrives in sand in dry shade but it often gets crowded out by less-desirable plants in moist sand. Two native grasses that do well in dry sandy soil are buffalo grass (more for full sun though) and inland sea oats which is lovely in a natural setting but might not look quite so good in the middle of a back yard. If you have bermuda, though, it would crowd out both of these.

Do you have a long-term plan for what you want to do with the sandy area?

Dawn

I'd recommend you "grow" a lasagna garden this year. It will incorporate organic material into your sand and provide you with expanded plant choices later. There's lot of information available about lasagna gardening. Try the soil, compost and mulch forum. Here's a link for a boiled down, simple description for a lasagna garden. Whatever you do, don't over think it, and make it too complicated.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lasagna 101

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