4. Environmental Conditions
This may be the most important blog post in this series. That’s not to say all the other topics in this series are not as important. It’s just that many people (designers included) are often either not aware, or not careful to pay attention to environmental conditions when designing a planting plan. You have to come to an understanding of factors such as sunlight exposure, geographic nuances, and soil and how they impact the health of plants. To disregard the natural habitat of a plant and place it in any old spot in the landscape is like forcing a fish to live out of water. For example, many people may love the classic look of hydrangeas, but may end up regretting that plant choice if they locate them on the hot, exposed, western side of their property.
A wilted hydrangea is a common sight during the heat of summer. Hydrangeas require shade and a good deal of water to prevent wilting.
Image Source: edencondensed.com
Geographic features such as hillsides, wetlands, and forests each have their own set of environmental conditions for the plant life held within them. You have to read the landscape to get an understanding of what you’re working with before good design decisions can be made. If there’s a low-lying, wet area on your property, chances are that you will have a hard time maintaining a manicured lawn or flowerbed in this location. For a wet area like this, plants that can tolerate periods of standing water must be used. Plants such as Virginia Sweetspire, Small Anise Tree, or Possumhaw Viburnum are excellent choices to use in these wet portions of your property. Conversely, the crest of a hill tends to be hotter and drier due to exposure and the flow of water moving downhill to lower lying areas. Hillsides are also prone to erosion, so the landscaping on a slope will need to anticipate that.
A woodland garden like this is a good solution to a wet, low-lying, shady location. This is proof that, with a solid design, a problem area in your landscape can become a great focal point.
Image Source: asla.org
A hot, sunny hillside, such as the one seen here at Cheekwood in Nashville, Tennessee, can present all kinds of opportunities for an attractive landscape design.
Aspect goes hand-in-hand with geographic conditions. Aspect is simply defined as the direction on the compass in which a piece of land faces. Sunlight exposure, soil moisture levels, wind speeds, and temperature levels are all influenced by aspect. What you need to remember is: north and east are typically cooler while south and west tend to be hotter. Aspect can be created by a number of on-site conditions; a building, a forest, and topography all create aspect.
This diagram shows the impact aspect has on landscape temperatures.
Image Source: www.fsavalanche.org
Good soil conditions are essential to have success in growing healthy plants. This seems obvious, but it’s easy to get lazy with it. Simply taking a look and assessing that the soil is hard clay with rocks is not enough to accurately determine the quality of said soil. The nutrients in the soil that are necessary to support healthy plant life can be tricky to determine without professional help. The best way to get an understanding of the condition of your soil’s nutritional values is to reach out to your county’s agriculture extension service to conduct a soil sample test. This service is usually provided for a reasonable price. Detailed instructions on how to prepare a sample are typically provided on the extension service's website.
Soil samples prepared for review. Contact your local extension service to find out how to get your soil tested.
Image Source: news.cals.vt.edu
A final environmental condition to consider is sunlight exposure. How much sunlight a site receives is usually pretty easy to determine. It’s best to visit the location to be planted on a sunny day, of course, and to have a look at where the sun shines brightest and where shadows are cast from trees and buildings. You also need to think about microclimates when it comes to sunlight exposure. A paved road, for example, emits a good deal of heat, while a low, shady location will maintain cooler temperatures.
This article is a good introduction, but it by no means covers all the potential environmental conditions that may be present when designing a planting plan. It takes experience and knowledge of plants coupled with an understanding of their natural habitat to generate a planting plan that will be sustainable. Please contact Shippey Landscape Architecture today to help ensure that your next planting project works with the existing environmental conditions on your property.