9 Recommended Roses for Sandy Soil

If you want to grow roses in sandy soil, there are a few challenges to overcome. The good news is that some beautiful roses will grow quite well in sandy soil with proper care and attention. The obstacles to growing in sandy soil are present but not insurmountable.

Sand drains quickly, which means that it doesn’t give rose roots a long time to absorb when they need to. In hot climates, especially, this type of soil can dry out quickly, making it difficult to grow plants that require moisture, such as roses. 

How to Improve Your Sandy Soil

To improve your sandy soil for roses, you need to enhance its ability to retain water and nutrients. In doing so, you’ll improve the overall structure. Sandy soil holds little water and nutrients, so you’ll want to focus on these objectives. 

Timing is not especially important, but it’s best to amend your sandy soil while it’s dry. Sand compacts when it’s wet, making it more challenging to deal with. To save yourself some energy, work with it when it’s dry or nearly so. 

Add a generous helping of organic material to your sandy soil. Compost, well-rotted manure, peat moss, and leaf mold are all appropriate additions. These materials enhance the soil’s ability to retain moisture while also nourishing essential soil microbes. This benefits the soil in the long term. 

Adding some coconut coir or vermiculite can also enhance water retention while resisting compaction. You can also add a layer of rich topsoil on top. This will gradually incorporate with the sand, improving its structure. 

After planting, top with a generous helping of mulch to help slow evaporation. As the mulch breaks down, it adds more organic matter, continuing to amend the soil with little intervention. Mulch regularly for best results. 

‘Hansa’

	botanical name Rosa ‘Hansa’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 4’-6’
	hardiness zones 3-8

Rugosa roses are renowned for their exceptional hardiness, toughness, and disease resistance. This group of old garden roses performs well in cold climates as well as in poor soil conditions, such as sandy soil. These roses are great for sandy soil! ‘Hansa’ is a popular hybrid variety introduced in 1905, with excellent staying power.

‘Hansa’ is a medium-sized shrub that blooms first in spring with a strong flush. With proper care, it will repeat bloom into fall. The flowers are large and double, and a striking shade of magenta. They’re eye-catching and have a strong, clove-like scent common to old roses. It has wrinkled, medium-green foliage, and the bright red hips are decorative in the fall.

‘Tuscany Superb’

	botanical name Rosa ‘Tuscany Superb’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 4’-5’
	hardiness zones 4-9

Gallica roses are among the oldest in cultivation. They are well-loved for their ability to thrive with little care and their incredible fragrance. Once established, they exhibit good drought resistance, making these roses suitable for sandy soil. They are particularly disease-resistant in drier climates as well. 

‘Tuscany Superb’ is a popular variety with intensely fragrant, purple flowers that appear in mid-summer. This old-fashioned rose blooms only once a year, for two to four weeks, depending on the care it receives. The blooms are semi-double and open fully, making them more accessible for pollinators. This vintage is thorny, so exercise care when handling it. 

‘Assisiensis’

	botanical name Rosa canina ‘Assisiensis’
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 3’-4’
	hardiness zones 5-9

Also known as Assisi rose, this dog rose is a thornless cultivar. It’s commonly linked with St. Francis of Assisi and found in the rose garden at the Basilica honoring the saint. It’s the only known cultivar of thornless dog rose. Dog roses are a wild shrub native to Europe, Africa, and Asia and are sometimes called briar roses. 

Dog roses are a great choice for sandy soil. They have deep roots and thrive in low-fertility environments. Incredibly adaptable and low-maintenance, this rose is perfect for sandy soil. The single-petal flowers are candy pink and open to reveal a warm yellow center that is attractive to pollinators.

Virginia Rose

	botanical name Rosa virginiana
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 4’-6’
	hardiness zones 3-8

Virginia roses are perfect for those with sandy soil. These North American natives naturally grow in sandy meadows and dunes. They are well-adapted to dry environments and have deep roots, which makes them more drought-tolerant. They’re also salt-tolerant and withstand strong winds. 

While they are not the showiest of roses, Virginia roses are charming and versatile. They’re a great pollinator support plant and have pretty, single-petaled, pink flowers. They bloom in a single flush in early summer, and bright red hips follow. These make great food for overwintering birds. 

‘Carefree Wonder®’

	botanical name Rosa ‘MEIpitac’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 3’-5’
	hardiness zones 4-9

The name says it all: ‘Carefree Wonder®’ is an excellent rose for sandy soil and other challenging terrains. It comes from a series developed specifically for their tolerance of harsh conditions, including poor soil. It’s a repeat bloomer, flowering in flushes from late spring until the first frost. 

‘Carefree Wonder®’ is a shrub with similar characteristics to a Floribunda. The flowers are semi-double and cup-shaped, in rose pink with a golden center. They have a sweet scent that is mild and pleasant. It’s disease-resistant and requires little attention other than occasional deadheading and spring pruning. 

Flower Carpet® ‘Appleblossom’

	botanical name Rosa x ‘NOAme’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 2’-3’
	hardiness zones 5-11

‘Appleblossom’ is a Flower Carpet® cultivar commonly grown as a stunning ground cover. It’s an incredibly profuse bloomer, with repeated flushes from mid-spring until frost. The Flower Carpet series is long-blooming, disease-resistant, and tolerant of heat and humidity. They are perfect for Southern coastal gardens. 

The name describes the flowers perfectly. ‘Appleblossom’ produces an incredible number of pale pink and white flower clusters. A single stem can hold up to 60 flowers. It’s low-maintenance and great for pollinators, as it requires no chemical spraying due to its outstanding disease resistance. 

‘Red Meidiland®’

	botanical name Rosa ‘Meineble’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 1.5’-2’
	hardiness zones 4-9

If you long for red roses but you’re contending with sandy soil, I’ve got just the plant for you! ‘Red Meidiland®’ is a fantastic, low-growing ground cover rose that performs excellently in sandy soil. Its adaptability and drought tolerance make this a relatively easy rose to grow in various challenging environments. 

‘Red Meidiland®’ has many wonderful uses. It makes a stunning ground cover and looks incredible in a mass planting. It’s also highly disease-resistant. It blooms in repeated flushes from spring through fall or until frost. The flowers are single-form and bold red with white and yellow eyes. 

‘Sea Foam’

	botanical name Rosa ‘Sea Foam’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 2’-4’
	hardiness zones 5-11

Floribunda roses are well-suited for sandy soil, but it’s best to amend the soil ahead of planting to improve moisture retention. They are compact and bushy, repeat bloomers bred for adaptability and disease resistance. They’re also quite heat-tolerant, making them ideal for Southern coastal gardens. 

‘Sea Foam’ is a wonderful floribunda with a spreading habit. In warm climates, it may be evergreen. The small to medium-sized flowers are white with just a touch of blush. They are fully double and lightly fragrant, an excellent balance of attributes. It works as a ground cover, or you can train it over a trellis as a short climber. 

Knock Out® ‘Orange Glow™’

	botanical name Rosa ‘RADslam’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 4’-5’
	hardiness zones 4-11

Knock Out® roses are well-suited for sandy soil and other challenging terrains. Developed to be low-maintenance, disease-resistant, and adaptable, they are easy to care for and beautiful, too! They also have the most glorious continuous blooming habit. They flower from spring through frost with proper care.