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.

Spring Is Around The Corner – How is your Garden?

Spring is in my opinion the most wonderful time of year for the gardener. You can shake of that winter weariness and get ready for a new gardening season.

The most difficult part of spring gardening is trying to manage your impatience. Don’t start digging around too early. The soil must be dry enough to have it fall apart when you pick it up. When it still sticks together like glue that’s definitely not the case.

Early spring is the best time of year to change (parts of) your garden design. You can transplant existing shrubs and perennial plants before they begin to leaf out. This also is the time to prune your trees and shrubs. Cut back the remaining dead foliage from last season and remove dead, damaged or diseased branches of trees and shrubs.

And then flowers! That’s really what spring is about isn’t it! There are many that are suitable for cool spring weather. Think of sweet alyssum, some snapdragons, stock and sweat peas. You can also start some perennials like hostas and daylilies.

Start some Violets, Marigolds, Carnations, Geraniums and Impatiens inside to transplant to your flower beds in early spring. Or if you have some space left in your garden you can set up a “Cold Frame”. Ready-made cold frames are available in different sizes. A cold frame “captures” the spring sunlight and warms the soil it surrounds. That way it is ideal to “harden off” houseplants and transplants for your summer garden. You can use the cold frame for direct seeding as well.

If you have unplanted areas in your garden a great spring project is to lay out landscape cloth on that unplanted area. Landscape cloth is an excellent weed barrier. It comes in different weights, heights and fabric choices. This cloth can then also serve as a great map to precisely plant your transplants.

Weeds start to grow very early but still have shallow roots in spring so get them out when you spot them. Getting on top of the weeds now means a lot less work in summer, and I’m sure that digging out weeds in the burning sun in not your favorite pastime.

These two measures will definitely intimidate your perennial weeds to the extent that they will prefer your neighbor’s garden over yours.

And most of all enjoy your spring garden, watch it grow and blossom into summer!

About The Author:
Anita Johnston is an enthusiast gardener and one of the authors of http://www.gardening-guides.com