Add Photo to Journal

Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Tim Butler

A container garden may enjoy full sun during part of the day, but often in the morning or afternoon, trees and structures cast shadows over the container garden. (Consider these exposure changes when you choose your plantings.)

Growing plants is a wonderfully rewarding pastime. But to be successful at it, you’ve got to put your plants in the right light. Container gardens make the task a little easier, since you can always move the pots to a spot where they’ll grow better. Nevertheless, you still need to know what kind of light you have available in your garden as the day progresses. After all, sun patterns shift throughout the day, as well as from season to season.

To determine light conditions in your yard or on your patio, deck or balcony, monitor the area a few times during the course of a day. Do this in spring or early summer, when most plants grow and bloom, and again later in summer. If you live in a warm climate, repeat your observations again in fall and winter, when the sun is lower in the sky and shadows are longer.

Add Photo to Journal

Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/Reed Estabrook

A photographic light meter can be an effective tool for comparing the relative amount of light in two different areas of your garden and to help determine whether the sun exposure to your plantings is sufficient.

Plan to make your first observation at about 10 in the morning. Take note of the areas of full sun, full shade, shadows and filtered light created by tree branches or overhangs. Also notice the sun’s location in the sky. Make your second outing at around 1 in the afternoon, noting the differences and similarities, then venture out for a final evaluation at 5 in the evening.

Keep in mind that as the seasons progress, the angle of the sun rises and falls in the sky, appearing to move north and south as the Earth travels its orbit around the sun. Maintaining your notes for at least a week will allow you to forecast sunlight and shade exposures for that particular time of the year. If necessary, repeat your observations every few months until you truly understand how sunlight falls on your lot and garden.

Add Photo to Journal

Photo Credit: ©2000 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard

Some plants, like fern varieties, need filtered sunlight and shade to thrive. This allows you to fill the darker reaches of your garden with background color and texture.

After you’ve thoroughly studied your yard’s sun and shade patterns, you’re ready to get your hands dirty – not with planting though, just with more evaluating: Pick up some soil in shady locations at the same times of the day (10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.) to see whether it’s hot and dry, or moist and cool. Even if you’re creating a container garden – and therefore aren’t planning on digging in the ground – determining how soil texture in different areas of the yard changes during the day will also tell you a lot about how the sun affects those locations.

At the same time you’re looking at the soil, observe the attributes of the surrounding air. Is the temperature in a shady spot markedly different from that of a sunny or speckled-light one? Most plants – even ivy, hostas and most ferns – need at least a half-day of sunshine to grow well. (Of course, that’s the advantage of container gardens – you can always relocate plantings to higher-light areas if you ever need to.

Whether planting in the ground or growing a container garden, understanding exactly what kind of light is available to you and your plants throughout the day and from season to season is an important step in successful gardening. Once you’ve figured out those lighting patterns, you can select plants that thrive under those conditions, filling both shadows and light with amazing color and life!