Have you thought about how your garden micro-climate affects how well your plants grow?
For example, you might wonder why some plants aren’t flowering. Or perhaps others are getting scorched leaves, even if the same plants seem to do well in your neighbour’s garden.
The key is to understand – or create – different ‘climates’ within your garden.
I recently visited Paul Seaborne of the plant nursery Pelham Plants. He and his partner have created a garden from an exposed, windy and uneven donkey field, creating a number of garden micro-climates, mainly by dividing the garden up with hedges.
Paul Seaborne of Pelham Plants and his partner created this lush and vibrant garden out of a windy donkey paddock. They have used hedging to create sheltered spots and shady corners.
What is a garden micro-climate?
It’s a small area in your garden where the weather conditions are different from the surrounding area. It could be a part of the garden that gets particularly wet, dry, hot, cold or windy.
For example, you may have, for example, an East-facing garden which perhaps gets a lot of wind.
But you can find or create a sheltered spot in your garden. It may be an area that’s protected by a shed or the house wall. Or you can add a hedge or a wall, facing south. That will be a little micro-climate where your garden is more sunny and less windy.
One garden micro-climate is the area close to the wall of your house. The wall shelters plants from the wind. And if your house is made of brick, the brick absorbs sunlight during the day and gives it off at night.
Plants nearest to a house benefit from its shelter and warmth. Sometimes you can grow more tender or exotic plants close to your house. Paul has surrounded Rose Cottage with a series of hedges so the plants are sheltered but still have open sky directly above. The cottage’s brick walls will absorb heat during the day and give it off at night making it warmer than a border a few feet away.
If you don’t have storage, then some tender plants may over-winter safely if pulled in close to the house. There is less of an effect if your house is built of wood or other materials, but you may still get the effects of warmth from the house during winter.
Creating a garden micro-climate with hedges doesn’t mean having rows of dark foliage. Here two of Paul’s hedges shelter plants from the wind. In the foreground is a Miscanthus ‘hedge’. And behind it is a hornbeam hedge, cut in a dramatic style. The miscanthus hedge is protecting the Stipa behind it – before the hedges grew up, the Stipa was once ripped out of the soil by the wind!
How to start creating a garden micro-climate
When they moved into Rose Cottage, it was surrounded by an uneven field where the previous owner had kept donkeys and horses. So there were no borders or lawn.
They started carving out borders bit by bit. As plant-lovers their priority was to ‘have fun with plants’ and to grow as many different kinds as they could.
So there was no overall ‘design’ – just piecemeal experimentation.
The first step in creating a garden micro-climate is to assess what you have. Rose Cottage is on the edge of woodland in the Sussex weald, says Paul. And it is surrounded by open fields.
The wind whips across the fields and sometimes even seems to get ‘stuck’ – hemmed in by woodland on two sides.
Although there is countryside, there are no views. ‘I can understand that people with wonderful coastal views have to put up with the wind because they don’t want to block the view,’ says Paul. But that wasn’t an issue for us. We didn’t want the wind.’
So they planted hornbeam hedges in wonderful shapes and in what could almost be random places to create a series of garden micro-climates.
With the warmth of the brick and tile house behind it and a hedge screening the wind to one side, this border can grow tender, sun-loving plants. The sun doesn’t shine on it all day, but it does get around 6 hours of sun a day, which is all that is needed. And having some shade stops the border drying out in hot, dry weather.
You can also create a garden micro-climate by adding a wall or even a garden building. Read this post about ‘ruins’ and garden follies to see how dividing up the garden and adding focal points can help create a garden micro-climate.
Assess your garden’s strengths…
Paul says that observation is an important part of gardening. If a plant isn’t flowering or it’s getting scorched leaves, then it is either in too sunny a place or too shady a place.
You can move the plant – or create the right place in your garden!
The plants in the garden are a stock bed for the Pelham Plants nursery. All the plants you buy from them – whether you go to the nursery itself or buy at the Plant Fairs Roadshow – are grown in the garden and nursery. Having the plants in the garden has given Paul a good idea of what different plants need ‘Some plants may be thirstier than others, for example,’ he says.
This is one of the reasons why buying from an independent nursery is so helpful. People who have grown the plants themselves on site, either from seed or propagation, really know how the plants will grow.
The garden at Rose Cottage is a ‘stock bed’ for the plants sold at the Pelham Plants nursery.
Although Rose Cottage is surrounded by woodland on two sides, there was relatively little shade. ‘We grow Heuchera ‘Autumn Bride,’ says Paul. ‘It has tall panicles of white flowers and lime-green leaves, but the leaves were getting scorched by the sun and the wind.
Once we planted trees and hedges, we were able to grow plants like the heuchera along with Hakonechloa macra and other shade-loving perennials.
Paul planted the hedge and the silver birch to create enough shade to grow heucheras and ferns.
Which hedges to choose to create a garden micro-climate
Paul wanted to create an effect quickly and without spending too much money. ‘I always plant hedging when it’s about six inches high,’ he says. ‘So we chose hornbeam because it grows quickly.’
Hornbeam also holds its leaves in winter and clips beautifully into shape. But be warned, once established, it will need clipping three times a year because it is fast-growing.
They also considered beech, which similarly keeps its brown leaves in winter and can also be clipped into shapes. However, beech doesn’t like sitting in wet soil in winter, and Paul decided the area might be too wet for it.
Two chairs are nestled between a hornbeam hedge and a lower miscanthus hedge. This means they catch the sun but are shielded from the window. Hornbeam clips into wonderful shapes too, and the dip just behind them will also let more sun in.
Box used to be a popular choice for hedging, but box blight and box moth caterpillar mean that it is unwise to plant box. Even if you haven’t so far had box moth in your area, it is travelling fast around the world. Find out more about box moth caterpillar here.
There are more choices for hedges in this post.
And you don’t have to choose shrubs for hedging. Denser ornamental grasses, such as Calamagrostis and Miscanthus can also filter the wind, although they are cut down to the ground once a year, so will only act as a hedge in summer and autumn.
You don’t need to enclose a space with hedging. The hedging in this garden stops and starts, leading you on through narrow clipped archways. They are clipped in swooping, irregular shapes.
The latest mini hedge is a short run of around four Portuguese laurel plants in the front garden. When they grow, they will create a glossy evergreen windbreak near the front path.
Even a gentle slope affects your garden micro-climate
Paul explained that Rose Cottage garden is on a gentle slope. ‘You may not even notice it. But it tilts the ground slightly facing north.’
This means that the garden is cooler than a similar garden would be if it was flat or had a slight tilt south. ‘In the winter, that can mean that the frost lies on the ground longer than it would normally,’ says Paul. ‘But in summer, it means the garden doesn’t dry out so quickly on a sunny day. It means the plants flower later, but they look fresher than other gardens which can dry out after a few weeks of sun and drought.’
You can see that the garden has a slope down to the terrace. It’s only a gentle slope but it affects the garden micro-climate. However, it also means that the terrace by the house is completely surrounded by beautiful planting.
For more about gardening in a sloping garden, see this post. And this explains how to plant on a slope.
If you can’t create your ideal garden micro-climate…
You may not always be able to do something about your garden’s issues. For example, if you have a shady corner because of nearby buildings, then you’re unlikely to be able to demolish them.
In that case, find out what you can enjoy – or what plants will grow – in that space. See 10 shady garden corner ideas – and two to avoid!
‘Right plant, right place’ is one of gardening’s most famous sayings. It means that it’s essential to choose sun-loving plants for sunny spots and shade-loving plants for shady spots.
And also consider other factors such as the wind, soil type and winter temperatures. There are other windy garden plants and solutions here.
One of the most difficult areas to plant can be ‘partial shade’. There are so many different types of partial shade, so when customers ask for good plants for partial shade, Paul always discusses the exact conditions. This is worth remembering! See this post for more about how to choose plants for different types of shade.
If, for example, you have very dry, poor soil, then consider planting a dry (or gravel) garden.
See more of Rose Cottage garden in video
There are some lovely views of Rose Cottage garden in this video, plus more advice from Paul.
Pin to remember about your garden micro-climate
And do join us. See here for a free weekly email with more gardening tips, ideas and inspiration.
