Propagation: Plant Propagation , The Basics ,Continued May 2015, 4 by Pistil

Pistil wrote:
Interesting story that illustrates how important the particular topsoil is- Most soil here is clayey, with a hardpan layer beneath. Yuck. But I used to live in a basement apartment down by the lake. The owner, my friend, was happy to have me garden. She hired someone to mow so it was great. The house next door had been built decades ago by the owner of a sand and gravel business. He wanted a sandy beach so brought in dozens of dump trucks full of sand! This would be illegal now. Anyway the current and wind deposited a lot of this on my yard and beach.The plants that wanted good drainage loved it. They could get their roots down to the water table, but live up on top. I had Agastache, Penstemon, garlic, onions, shallots, Curry Plant, and even Yucca.
This illustrates that one can really change the character of the soil if enough non-native stuff is dumped on top! Once I fertilized and added organic matter it was decent soil. Now I sometimes dream about a dump truck filled with sand... At some point I may do something like that. In the meantime I work on little micro areas of different soils-
#1- Kniphofia on a little hill where I spread 6" commercial planting mix
#2- Hens and chicks on a rock wall, spreading happily
#3- Cotula 'Tiffendell Gold' in gravel between pavers on a slope
#4,#5- here is Eremurus. I bought a bag of sand, mixed it with compost on a slope. They survived a winter! I am getting 2 blooms this year!