How To Garden In Sun Or Shade
Bill Watson
Sun vs Shade
Taking time to choose the right plants for specific conditions
in your garden will greatly improve your garden’s overall look
and feel, and will cut down on overall maintenance and watering
requirements.
Determine which areas of your yard receive a lot of sun, or
tend to be more shady. Especially note the times of day, and
how long each area remains in shade or how many hours of sun it
receives. Try to select plants that fit your gardens natural
growing conditions.
The amount of sun an area receives is measured in hours. For
instance, a “full sun” area would receive 6 or more hours of
direct sunlight per day.
Partial sun would be about 4 hours of sun per day. Also, there
is a difference between morning sun and afternoon sun. Morning
sun areas tend to provide a cooler environment, whereas
afternoon sun is generally much hotter.
Filtered sun is an area with both sun and shade in roughly
equal amounts. An example would be areas beneath large trees
that have open canopies.
Partial shade, will receive about 1 to 3 hours of sunlight per
day.
Full shade, are areas of your garden that never receive any
direct sunlight. The north side of fences or walls, or areas
beneath trees with heavy or dense canopies would be considered
full shade areas.
Each plant, available at your local garden center or nursery,
will have a tag that describes the basic growing and care
requirements for that particular plant.
Most often, the plant’s tag will include plant name and
variety, such as: Shasta Daisy – Alaska. The type of plant:
Perennial. Height at maturity: 2' to 4' tall. Width at
maturity: 18” to 24” wide. and Spacing: 18” to 24” apart.
Spacing, is the recommended distance between plants when you
first plant them in the ground, taking into account the
eventual size at maturity.
Tip: Spacing plants a little closer together than recommended
at the time of planting, will tend to give a more immediate
fullness to your garden, as well as when the garden matures.
This technique works well with flowering plants, such as
annuals and perennials.
The plant tag will also include the light requirements, such as
“full sun” for the Shasta Daisy, or “partial shade” for plants
that require shade during the hottest part of the day.
Tip: In general, if the light requirements listed for a plant
contain the word “sun” (i.e., “full sun”, “partial sun”, etc.),
the plant requires some amount of direct sunlight per day. If
the light requirement uses the term “shade” (i.e., “light
shade”, “full shade”, etc.), then it would be a shade-loving
plant.
There are many plants available today that will accept a wide
range of growing conditions. Your local nursery will have plant
types and varieties that are perfectly suited for your region’s
growing conditions.
Good Luck and Happy Gardening
About The Author: With over 20 years of gardening and
landscaping experience, Bill now shares his tips and advice on
creating and maintaining lush and healthy home gardens. Visit
his website at
http://www.your-healthy-gardens.com/
See Also:
Index of Gardens & Gardening
All About Organic Gardening
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