Beginner Gardening: I want to invade a bank, need suggestions..., 0 by

wrote:
NatureLover1950
Personally I have not. However, my daughter and son-in-law own a ranch out of town in what once was virgin prairie land. The soil is nothing but pure sand where she has her garden. It also extremely windy, to put it mildly. In order for the sand not to undercut the foundation, my son-in-law put down a lot of large rock, then covered them with soil/sand. It is raised up like a slope with a container wall of railroad ties from Home Depot. Lowest point is 2 ft, slanting upward to 3 or 4 ft against the foundation. There is also a lot of alkaline in their well water, which forms a crust on top of the soil when it dries.

Her "good" plants get humus in the planting hole. They own horses so manure is easy to get. She can't even mulch the plants with bark because it blows away. They built the house 4 years ago and moved up 3 years ago from town living. She has spent the last 3 years planting and experimenting to see what grows there. I provide her with all the plants since I'm into sowing seeds. There are no trees so no shade. She has been trying to establish those also. In town where I live my zone is 4. Where she lives 16 miles away and higher up, her growing zone is not quite 4. Winter winds keep it that way. Even the snow blows off.

Wyoming is semi arid where we live, about 10" of moisture year---if we are lucky. Plants have to hardy and drought resistant. Of all the varieties of perennial plants she has planted the following have done the best in this harsh condition:
Salvia in variety
Delosperma (Iceplants)
Penstemon in varitey
Sedums, all those that are hardy
Sempervivum tectorum, (common hen and chicks).
Callirhoe involucrata (Wine Cups)
Euphorbia polychroma, and myrsinites
Scabiosa
Liatris spicata
Oenothera (Evening Primrose)
Centaurea macrocephala
Gaillardia (Blanket Flower)
Cerastium alpinus (dwarf Snow-in-Summer)
Gypsohila repens (Creeping Baby's Breath)

Inbetween plants, creeping sedum is starting to spread and hold the soil/sand from blowing.

Caption: Gaillardias growing against her house in July. Notice how dry the soil/sand is.