Like other living things, plants have certain requirements for good health. For example, they require the right amounts of sunlight, moisture, and nutrients. Plants also need an equitable range of temperatures — neither too hot nor too cold.

When selecting plants, you can meet their requirements in one of two ways:

• The backward approach: Select your favorite plants and then do your best to alter the growing conditions at the planting site to meet their needs. (You can change the growing conditions by adding sprinkler irrigation, incorporating fertilizer, hauling in fresh topsoil, pruning some trees, or covering plants with blankets in winter.)

• The better approach: Study the conditions at the planting site first and then choose plants that grow under those conditions. The better you match plants to the planting site, the longer the plants will live, the better the plants will look, and the less work (watering, pruning, fertilizing, and controlling pests) you’ll have to do to care for them.

Climate AND Microclimates

You need to match a plant to a planting site on both a large and a small scale. On a large scale, a plant needs to be adapted to the general climate of the area in which it lives. Can the plant withstand winter’s low temperatures and summer’s high temperatures? Is the annual rainfall enough to keep the plant alive, or will it need supplemental irrigation? Understanding your climate is a huge step toward successful gardening; click here for more on climates

On a smaller scale, can the plant grow well in the localized climate of your yard or the planting site? Smaller climates, alled microclimates, can be quite a bit different from your area’s overall climate. For example, your house may cast shadows that make the northern side of your house cooler and shadier than its southern side. Or, a planting site located beside a white, west-facing wall can be several degrees warmer than the rest of the yard because of the reflected heat from the wall.

Sun Or Shade

All plants need light to grow properly. However, the amount of light that plants need varies.

Many plants require full sun for at least six to eight hours per day. Plants that don’t get enough sunlight become leggy (long, spindly stems), as if stretching out for more light. Plants that don’t get enough sunlight also tend to flower poorly.

Note one obvious rule for gardening in the shade: Put shade-loving plants in the shade. Sun-worshipping plants just won’t make it. Don’t fret, though. You can choose from hundreds of incredible shade-loving plants (some with showy flowers and others with attractive foliage and form).

Some plants prefer shady conditions for the entire day (or for at least part of the day). Shade comes in more than one type, and each type of shade creates a different microclimate. For example, consider the area on the east side of your house. For at least half a day — in the morning — this area is sunny and warm. In the afternoon, the same area is shady.

The west side of the house is usually just the opposite — shady in the morning but hot and sunny in the afternoon. Heavy, all-day shade appears on the north side of the house, and you find filtered shade under trees. To further confuse the matter, shade can change with the seasons as trees lose their leaves and as the sun moves on the horizon.  ....read more