How do we determine the amount of sunlight a garden receives? Measuring garden sunlight can be tricky even for experienced gardeners or landscape designers, especially if there are trees and shady spots.
Photo credit: Port Sunlight
You can start by sketching out the garden, including aspects like dry, wet, sloping and play areas. For example, if there’s a pond, take note of pets or human traffic, you don’t want your prized flowers to be trampled upon. Also draw in rocks, fences, sheds, existing trees, shrubs, and hedges which can cast shadows.
Next, map out the sunlight areas to determine optimal planting positions. Some plants bloom at different times of the day. For example, morning glories bloom in the morning, four o’clocks in the afternoon shade, and jasmine gives a sweet-scented blossom in the cool evening.
To do this, you have to spend a day outside to observe the sun. Every half-hour, note down the sun’s position. For example, the corner of the garden may get the most sunlight at 6:30; write “6:30″ in that spot, and draw a line to mark where the shade begins. Next, at 7:00, draw another line, and so on.
Ultimately you compile the raw data in another map, showing total number of hours each area was basked in golden sunlight, Say the corner may be lit at 6:30 and shaded by 10:30, meaning four hours of flower-producing light.
Bear in mind that amount of sunlight in the garden will change throughout the year. A tree may throw up a larger shade in the fall due to the change in angle of the sun during the season. You can take advantage of this by planting early spring bulbs in a garden area that is sunny in early spring but shady in the summer.
Photo credit: cycle.nut66
Before you spend any money on seeds or waste your effort in planting, measure the garden sunlight properly first. If a section of your garden doesn’t get enough sun, don’t ignore it, just put in plants that thrive in shady areas.
Besides sunlight, a good landscape design will also consider time of year a flower blooms, color, and height of plants. The time of day certain flowers bloom will make your garden interesting when you plant morning glories, four-o’clocks and jasmine. Your little Eden will bloom from dawn till dusk.
