The weather will be a major influence on the design and planting of your garden. If you live in an area where the proportion of cold, wet days is high, you should site your vegetable patch near the house, or at least make sure there is a dry path to it so that it will he easy to pick a winter cabbage.
A well planned garden should make the most of variations in the microclimate. The plants behind the pond and under the tree-Himalayan poppies, rhubarb, hostas and primula -all like shade and moisture; the fruit trees are trained up against the wall, since brick stores and re-radiates solar heat long after the sun has gone off the garden; and the vegetables are planted on a south-facing slope to catch the full benefit of the sun's rays.
Shade-loving plants tend to be the ones with relatively large leaves, since these become hotter than small leaves when exposed to sunlight. While plants and soil absorb heat from the sun during the day, at night they give off heat into the atmosphere. On cloudy nights, heat radiated from the ground is partly reflected back again, so that temperatures do not increase too rapidly. On clear winter nights, however, nearly all the heat is lost to space and the ground temperature falls rapidly until it is lower than that of the air. The soil then takes heat from the air at ground level, resulting in freezing.
Although a panoramic view is a great asset, the site from which you enjoy it is often exposed and windswept. As well as offering shelter, planting in the foreground (right) may improve such a view by breaking it up into a series of images. A wall with a window in it (far right) performs a similar function and literally frames the view
Although sufficient wind is therefore desirable to prevent frost developing, high wind speeds can result in the atmosphere trying to make more water evaporate from the leaves than can be supplied from the roots. This is known as water stress and it stunts the growth of plants. Of course, too much wind can also have a more directly disastrous effect by uprooting plants.
By contrast, the design shown on the right holds the eye within the garden, with the pool and fountain creating an internal point of interest garden. So the curved bed (in the right foreground of the picture) has been kept deliberately low to allow a view through to the neighbouring garden and the trees.
A well planned garden should make the most of variations in the microclimate. The plants behind the pond and under the tree-Himalayan poppies, rhubarb, hostas and primula -all like shade and moisture; the fruit trees are trained up against the wall, since brick stores and re-radiates solar heat long after the sun has gone off the garden; and the vegetables are planted on a south-facing slope to catch the full benefit of the sun's rays.
Shade-loving plants tend to be the ones with relatively large leaves, since these become hotter than small leaves when exposed to sunlight. While plants and soil absorb heat from the sun during the day, at night they give off heat into the atmosphere. On cloudy nights, heat radiated from the ground is partly reflected back again, so that temperatures do not increase too rapidly. On clear winter nights, however, nearly all the heat is lost to space and the ground temperature falls rapidly until it is lower than that of the air. The soil then takes heat from the air at ground level, resulting in freezing.
Although a panoramic view is a great asset, the site from which you enjoy it is often exposed and windswept. As well as offering shelter, planting in the foreground (right) may improve such a view by breaking it up into a series of images. A wall with a window in it (far right) performs a similar function and literally frames the view
Although sufficient wind is therefore desirable to prevent frost developing, high wind speeds can result in the atmosphere trying to make more water evaporate from the leaves than can be supplied from the roots. This is known as water stress and it stunts the growth of plants. Of course, too much wind can also have a more directly disastrous effect by uprooting plants.
By contrast, the design shown on the right holds the eye within the garden, with the pool and fountain creating an internal point of interest garden. So the curved bed (in the right foreground of the picture) has been kept deliberately low to allow a view through to the neighbouring garden and the trees.
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Selecting suitable plants that suit to the climate of the region of your garden is important in garden planning.
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