Lessons from the Garden: Part 1

Mixed media with found poetry

 While out in the garden you are constantly learning about it and yourself. Thinking back to those early years when I was a mere novice in the garden, most of that learning came by trial and error. If I am honest with you, there were lots of errors at the expense of some lovely plants. Many of you may have started out gardening like I did by running out to the garden center, buying pretty blooms, and rushing home to plant. Let me give you some advice, before you head to the nursery take some time to figure out the sun patterns in your yard. They will vary from hour to hour, and season to season. 

 Lesson number 1: How to pick plants based on Sunlight Conditions - What does Full Sun really mean? Good question. Some plant tags and even gardening books may classify the planting conditions differently, there's Full Sun, Sun, Sun to Shade, Partial Shade, and Shade for examples of light conditions. That's where knowing your sunlight patterns are going to come in handy. 

 For example, that side yard of mine is full sun for almost the entire day. You have to be a hardy plant to survive being planted there. For this spot, I not only look for full sun, but also for the words drought tolerant in those plant tags. I've learned that some Full Sun plants like a balance of some sun and shade, and that could mean morning sun/afternoon shade or vice versa. You simply need to take the time and gain the experience working in your yard and with different plant species. I spent nine years getting to know my first yard, and close to twenty-one here at our second, and I'm only now getting the hang of it. 

P.S. Turns out some of those Shade plants actually want more sun than you might think. Oh, and watch out for the fact that trees do grow, and the result is that shade patterns do change.