Picking the right plants for your yard

Have you ever fallen victim to the ever popular yet sometimes costly practice of visiting a nursery or garden center, and falling in love with a plant without ever considering how much sun or shade it will get throughout various times of the year?  I thought so.

For anyone with a home facing east or west, it’s very important to consider the trajectory of the daily flight of the sun at different times throughout the year.  Why is that?  For the simple reason that the sun has a predictable tendency to make its daily path across the southerly sky during the winter, as opposed to a more overhead arc during the peak of summer.   How that affects the amount of sunlight your yard gets on each side of your home is something that everyone should be aware of before picking out and spending what could be a costly amount of money on trees, plants, and shrubs, only to see them wither from not enough light, or too much.

It’s not enough to only consider the growing zone you reside in for the purposes of picking the right plants.  Neither is it enough of an excuse to stock up at the local nursery because the spring planting season has arrived.  If you’ve lived in your home long enough, you’ve most likely become greatly accustomed to the amount of sunlight each area of your yard receives.  Well, have heart new homeowners; because keeping a few key things in mind will help keep you from making costly plant purchases as well.

First and foremost, you need to always read the information tag that accompanies, or should accompany every plant you see for sale.  If you can’t find one, make a point to ask one of the nursery employees what the plant is and what they know about its water needs, growth habit, soil needs, and of course, its sunlight needs.  If there is any doubt or hesitancy in their response, you probably should move on to a tagged plant, or even a new nursery if you’re finding  a common lack of help or information to rely on, and research more about the plant you like, if it’s important to you.

The next thing to consider, is what locations in your yard would be good candidates for your new plant.  Think of how the new plant will compliment, contrast, or simply fit in with the theme of your garden.    Then, take mental notes on whether or not the new plant’s needs for water, soil, and growth as you’ve read on the tag will be met in those locations.

Finally, consider the amount of sunlight your new plant will receive throughout various times of the year.  Not just the time of the year you happen to be purchasing the plant.  If you have an east facing home, always remember that the north side of your home during the winter will receive very little if any direct sunlight due to the southerly arc of the sun, while its south side soaks up all the rays.  So, if you’ve fallen in love with Rosemary, Geraniums, or any other plants that need full sun year round, you should forget about planting or placing them on the north side of your home.  At the same time, you’ll want to avoid buying shade loving plants for the winter shaded north side of your home,  because they will soon enough discover the hot wrath of the summer sun come June and July.

Keep in mind however, there are a lot of determining factors on whether or not a plant grows well in a designated location in your yard, such as soil quality, excessive wind that can dry out a plant, and insects just to name a few.  To sum it up for the purposes of sunlight though, get to know how much sun your home gets on all sides, north, south, east, and west, to help you in picking out the right plants for your yard.

About the Author: Linda Johnson is a degreed and experienced crafter and interior/exterior decorating specialist, with years of experience helping friends, family, and clients solve their decorating and craft needs. Linda and her contributing writers invite you to submit your own great ideas for free, and also find tons more craft ideas and landscape decorating projects like this with photos to try yourself.