When a north facing garden is south facing

Hi all,

This is perhaps a silly question. But if a north facing garden is long enough such that some of it is not shaded by the house is this part infact south facing? The directionality of a garden is given in relation to the relative position of the house to garden? As another example. If you had a field with no structures to create shade. It's it all south facing?

 

Not silly.

The names north and south facing are really only to give a guide to the amount of shade expected. I have a neighbour whose garden faces north but is on such a steep slope that it actually “faces” west.

Take a look at the little drawings in this website and see how the shade at different times of day affects the naming of the way the garden faces.

Types of garden shade

 

Yes, it can be confusing. The north facing bit indicates the aspect from the property, but when it's long enough, you'd have an area which would have every aspect, and certainly some of it will be south facing. My front garden is long enough for that to happen. It's basically north west facing, but the farthest section gets quite a bit of sun, although from autumn until later spring, that doesn't happen as the sun isn't high enough to clear the houses across the road.
Anything around a property - buildings, hedges etc, has an effect, so it's only a general guide.

 

Thanks for the comments, that does make sense. I have been trying monitor the sun at different times of day and month to guage how much sun each area gets.

 

There is an app which tells you sun direction through day/year - it would give you a starting point. I used it to confirm best place for my greenhouse

 

It is a really good idea to do this. And it is worth factoring in that plants which need sun in summer can cope with full shade in winter if they are herbaceous and disappear in late autumn.

 

Thanks again. I do have an app for this and is useful to have I agree.

 

Yes - the hours of sunshine for plants is based on summer conditions, so, as @ViewAhead says, it doesn't matter if you have any deciduous/herbaceous plant which will get little to no sun through winter, as long as it's getting the amount it needs in the summer months.
Plants that like semi shade can be gauged in slightly different ways because you can have more constant semi-shade caused by a building/wall,/fence etc. but it can also be created by overhead planting which is deciduous, so they aren't completely the same. Most of the time it'll make very little difference, but the moisture of soil is affected more when it's the former.

 

If growing slightly tender plants you are best looking for the winter sunny areas.

Very easy to plant something in June or July only to find that plant spends 5 months in total shade at the worst time of the year.

 

I couldn't have anything 'slightly tender' outside beyond October anyway. It would just die. Even those which are borderline, are iffy here because of wet cold, as well as anything else that comes along.
I think it would largely depend where you're located for that to be relevant.

 

I find there are degrees of hardiness and as climate changes between North South East and West plus elevation what survives where is always surprising.

For instance what survives and flourishes on the west coast of Scotland may well not on the east and vice versa.

It's relevant to where you live and also what plants you like or plan to grow.
I also thought it might be relevant for the OP.

 

At the risk of going slightly off topic but as the topics of winter and tender plants were raised.. I've bought a small polytunnel, metal frame, pvc plastic cover and intend to keep my tender plants (dahlias, coleus, cordyline etc) in it over winter positioned against south facing wall of house. I live in central belt of Scotland. I realise now this probably won't prevent frost getting them so might have to fleece the pots too or find means to heat it a little. It was as much to stop them getting very damp through the winter as well. Anyone have experience of tender plants in outside structures over winter?

 

I buy large transparent plastic storage boxes and put these over anything allergic to frost, raised at the bottom to allow air in (though you could drill holes instead). If a night looks like being cold, I put them on and then remove them next morning to allow air to circulate. Works for me but I am in the balmy far south.

 

Dahlias will be just stored tubers, obviously need to be frost free, but just above zero will be ok if dry, likewise the cordyline, again fairly dry but not totally, they like some moisture in winter.
Coleus, no chance, window sill indoors maybe.
Perhaps roots some cuttings or start new ones from seed next year.

I'm further south than you and not sure how low it goes up your way, but I keep lots of tender plants in an unheated garage over winter, but depends on what they are as to how best to overwinter.
Minus 5c overnight is reasonably common around here.

 

Interesting not heard of that one. Ok for smaller plants I guess