Sucessful Gardening In Sunny Spots

When it comes time to plan your garden, it is essential to know what plants will do best in shady or sunny areas. For example, most trees such as Cedar, pine and tamarack are happy to take as much sun as you can give them. Citrus and other fruit bearing trees do wonderfully with eight or more house of full sun every day and will produce like nobody's business. Flowers however are a different story.

When you go to the nursery or shop from a catalog, you will notice there is one of three types of lighting noted for the plant. Full sun, partial sun (or shade) and full shade.

Full sun indicates the plant needs six or more hours of direct sunlight a day. This is the type of light that is delivered with no middle man, so to speak. The sun is not filtered by anything and therefore has the most energy for the plant.

Some tags will say ‘full sun to partial shade,’ one such example is the Foxglove. It will do well in the partial shade, but prefers full sun. When the soil is warm and enough water is provided, the tall stalks of the foxglove will produce flowers for the entire growing season. The Yarrow is a completely different look. This plant prefers full sun and resembles a fern with white flowers. This plant takes as much sun as it can get.

Keeping the plants well fed and he moisture levels of the soils where they should be is very important when you are gardening in a full sun location. The plants have requirements for nitrogen and phosphorus which sometimes is not available in poor soils in some parts of the country.

It is not a difficult task to get the plants the correct amount of nutrients, even in very sunny conditions. Liquid fertilizer is enough for the small, potted plants. To make sure you know how much is adequate, make sure you follow the label directions for the size of the pot and type of plant. If you have a larger area outside, a few bags of dry or moist inexpensive fertilizer is a good thing to have on hand.

For large areas, manure based fertilizer is your best bet. It can usually be purchased in 30 or 50 pound bags and can be applied either by shaking it directly on to the soil from the bag or be used with a spreader. Most flowering plants will appreciate a watering at least every other day, keeping it moist but not wet.

Of course, the many varieties of cacti and other succulents can go a long time with very little water and are very drought tolerant. The structure allows the plant to keep the moisture inside the structure of it and have very little loss thru leaves. Irises, pansies, foxgloves and other flowering plant loose moisture thru the many leaves and flower pedals.

Aloe, Verbena and Yarrow all do well with little water as well. But succulents are not the only option. There are varieties of vines that thrive on sun and drought conditions, Bougainvillea and Wisteria are some examples of this type of vine. Some shrubs don’t require a lot of rain or sprinkler use because they can get all the water they need from the soil, provided it is not desert conditions where the soil is sandy and does not retain moisture well.

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