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Garden Map
As Designer Monthly tackles the theme of time this month, it's
time to take a hard look at your garden and make an honest
assessment of the amount of sun your little patch of Eden really
gets, as opposed to the amount of sun you would like it get.
The sad fact is that all too often a gardener wanders around the
nursery looking at the strong-backed hollyhocks and the puffy
peonies, and thinks, in some crazy moment of hopefulness, that her
own garden must certainly be able to sustain those sun-lovers. You
carefully read the little informational tags on the roses and the
snapdragons, and you think, sure, my garden must get full sun.
Standing there in the nursery, you think of your garden in the
early morning or the late afternoon and you remember it as flooded
with light.
This is similar to the way that, standing in the department store,
looking at the tiny polka-dot skirts, you remember yourself as the
size 6 slim-hipped sprite of your youth. It's wishful thinking,
and now's the time to take a cold, realistic count of your
sunlight hours.
To do this, you'll need to spend the day outside in the yard. Not
such a bad assignment, is it? Of course, you could break this down
into three or four parts over three or four days, but if you want
to, you can take this opportunity to really luxuriate for a whole
day outside.
What you'll end up with is a map of the sun in your garden, so
that you can see how many hours of sunlight each area receives.
The reason you need to really observe this and not just guess is
that unless you're really watching, you may not take into account
a crucial factor, such as the shade cast from the laundry.
Start by making a sketch of the yard. This can be simple, but make
sure you include anything that might cast a shadow, and include
other factors as well, such as dry or wet conditions. For example,
if there's a stream running at the edge of the yard, make a note
of this; if your neighbor's dog has a tendency to roam around the
northeastern corner of your flower bed, write that down, too,
because you may not want to plant your prize roses there.
Now, watch the sun. Every half-hour, make a note of where the sun
has touched, and is touching still. For example, the corner of the
garden that will get the most sun may light up at 6:30; write
"6:30" in that spot, and draw a line to mark the area where the
sunlight ends and the shade begins. Next, at 7:00, draw another
line, and so on.
Ultimately you'll be able to make another map, writing down the
total number of hours each area was basked in golden,
flower-producing light. The corner which was lit at 6:30 may be in
shade by 10:30, meaning that this section was good for four hours
of sun.
| Bear in mind that some factors affecting sunlight in
the yard will change during the course of the year. That shady
maple tree may not cut the sun received in May, but come
August it will shade a much larger patch of your garden. And
as the angle of the sun changes during the season, so too will
the amount of sun your garden gets in different parts.
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You can use this to your advantage; for example, you can plant
early spring bulbs in a part of the garden that is sunny in early
spring but shady later in the summer.
While you're planning the garden, there are many factors
to be considered: sun needed, the time of year a flower blooms,
the color, and the height of plants. But consider too the times of
day that certain flowers will bloom; you can plant morning
glories, four-o'clocks and night-blooming jasmine together for a
garden that will bloom from dawn past dusk.
Just because a section of your garden doesn't get full sun, that's
no reason to ignore it. Next month, we'll talk about plants that
thrive in shady areas.
 Now that you've got a more realistic view of the sun in your
garden, you can go back to daydreaming about the way you'll sprint
across the yard in that polka-dot skirt at your next garden party.
And what the heck, why not just buy it in a size 20 and wear it
with all your gusto?
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