Welcome to part 2 in our landscape design series, assessing your site.
Have you chosen an area you would like to landscape or are you going to landscape your entire garden? Regardless, it is important to assess your property. There are several factors to keep in mind: soil, light, drainage and privacy needs, are just a few things to keep in mind when selecting your site. Other factors might include Homeowner’s Association requirements or utility or septic lines.
Begin by drawing a plan of your garden or the area that you wish to landscape. A rough sketch is fine! This can simply be a sheet of paper with the area you are focusing on. Measure the area and include dimensions on your plan. Add in any existing features, such as a patio or other structures. Note utilities to avoid, septic system or gas lines. You can get this information from your home plan or from the county. If you are planning several areas, number them. You may want to break them up in sections as they may have different light requirements. If it is a long bed or if the area turns a corner, it may affect the kind of sun the area receives. This plan will give you a visual overview of your garden and will be used in drawing your design.
Step two is Observation. Note on your plan, the directions North, South, East and West. This is important in plant choices and assessing the sun and wind. Note any slopes, grading issues, if you need privacy for this area, how does rain effect the area or any other observations that help in your planning.
The third step is creating a Sun study. Make a chart with the hours of the day, 8:00am to 8:00pm listed down the side of your sheet of paper or in an Excel spread sheet. Next, list the garden areas across the top of your page. This is why we numbered our garden plan. We suggest taking your chart out over a period of days to note your observations. Maybe you go out in the morning every other hour on Saturday and Sunday to complete all hours of observation. The next weekend note the afternoon to evening hours. Make sure that it is a cloudless day. Also note that spring/summer sun is different than winter sun.
You may want to include a chart with abbreviations and sun requirements for those abbreviations on this page. Such as: Sh for shade, PSh for part shade, S for Sun and PS for part sun. You may also want to note whether the sun is in the morning or afternoon. Part sun in the morning is less intense than part sun in the afternoon. Why is this important? Many of our landscape questions deal with problems of plants planted in the incorrect light requirements. If you have this chart not only will it help you choose the correct plant for your design, it can also be used to assess if a plant is struggling in the future. It may be that it needs morning part-sun not afternoon part-sun.
Full shade: receives less than 4 hours of direct sunlight per day. Does not mean no sun, since very few plants, can tolerate complete darkness. Plants that list their sunlight requirements as full shade are those that can survive on less than 3 hours of direct sunlight each day, with filtered sunlight during the rest of the day. Hosta, Astilbe, and Heuchera are some examples of shade plants.
Dappled Sun: This is a somewhat rare term, but you may find it used to define the sunlight requirements of a few plants. Dappled sunlight is similar to partial shade. It is the sun that makes its way through the branches of a deciduous tree. Woodland plants, like Trillium or Solomon’s Seal, as well as some understory trees and shrubs, prefer this type of sunlight over even the limited direct exposure they would get from partial shade. Remember that, in early spring, the areas under a tree receive much more sunlight than they do in summer after the tree canopies have leafed out. This is one reason why spring sun-loving bulbs can be successfully planted beneath trees.
Partial Shade or Partial Sun: The terms “partial (or part) sun” and “partial shade” are often used interchangeably to mean 3 to 6 hours of sun exposure each day, preferably in the cooler hours of the morning and early afternoon. However, there is a subtle difference: If a plant is listed as the partial sun, greater emphasis is put on its receiving at least the minimal sun requirements. These plants need several hours of sun to set flowers and fruits but are not as fussy as the sun worshippers that need a full day of sun. You may need to experiment to find the ideal spot in your garden for plants listed as the partial sun. Luckily, there are not many of them. If the plants you’ve tucked into a partially shady garden aren’t flowering or growing up to expectations, it is probably because they need more direct sunlight.
If a plant is listed as partial shade, the plant will need some relief from the intense heat of late afternoon sun. You can easily accomplish this either by planting where a nearby tree will cast afternoon shade or by planting on the east side of a building where the area is blocked from the direct afternoon sun. Plants for partial shade include impatiens and most begonias.
Full Sun: For a planting location to be considered “full sun,” it does not necessarily need to be in direct sunlight for all the hours of daylight. A garden site is considered full sun as long as it gets at least 6 full hours of direct sunlight on most days. Full sun is probably the trickiest level of exposure to achieve because while many plants need full sun to set buds and flower, some cannot handle the intense heat and/or dry conditions that often come with that much sunshine. One way around this is to site these sensitive plants where they will get more of their sun in the morning when it is cool. As long as the plants get at least 6 hours of direct sunlight, they should grow well. Before choosing a plant, do a bit of research on the species to determine if there are limitations on the “full sun” requirement. Those that are sensitive to heat will usually come with cautions that it requires some shelter in the afternoon in hot climates.
The sunlight requirements for many plants will include terms like Full Sun to Partial Shade or Partial Shade to Full Shade. This indicates that the plant will do fairly well in a range of sunlight exposures, which gives you more flexibility in determining where you can plant it. However, be aware that many such plants still have a preferred sunlight requirement under which they do best. While the plant tags or seed labels may make a plant seem suitable for any location, a bit more research into the species may tell you that the plant really does best under a specific sunlight exposure but “tolerates” other conditions. It is always best to do some online research to learn the full story of any plant you are considering.
In the end, sometimes the best gauge is how well your plant is growing. If the leaves look burned or if the flowers are lanky and leaning in search of sunlight, the plant is probably not in an ideal spot. If a plant is not thriving, you may want to re-evaluate the sun it receives. Do not be afraid to move plants around in your garden if you think they are not placed correctly. Most species can be successfully transplanted if you work carefully.
Once you have your site plotted and planned, and you have an idea of the sun requirements of the area, you can begin dreaming of your future garden spot! BUT, before you rush out and fill up your cart with all those beautiful plants, there is another step for success… You need a soil test! Next in our series we will look at why you need a soil test, how you complete a soil test, when to perform your soil test and what to do once you get your results back!
