More Creative Landscaping With Microclimates

Regardless of where you live, and regardless of the weather patterns in your area, different areas of your property will have different special climates – microclimates – brought about by several different factors working together. Among many influences, these factors include the direction your property sits, it’s protection from wind, how sunny or shady the property is, and how much slope there is. So as well as average conditions for your area, it is important to consider your site’s microclimate in its landscape design.

Any structures that you place on your property could have an immediate effect on its microclimate. All your landscaping plans could easily be effected by just one placement. Houses can create windbreaks that alter the flow of air above and around them. Some areas will be cooler and some areas will be warmer on either side of the house. There will also be shade in different places at different times of the day. A wall or fence has effects on a garden or landscape just the same as natural elements like trees, bushes, and other vegetation.

Locally, the temperature changes depending on what the ground surface consists of. Some surface elements like bitumen get so hot in the hot summer months that you simply can’t walk on them. The heat that comes off of them is also felt in the surrounding air above. Concrete surfaces, on the other hand, keeps fairly cool. All landscaping plans will be effected differently by different elements. Grass is always cool, although the temperature of the soil beneath is influenced by the length of the grass above it. You can use temperature changes like this to help you grow warmth loving plants like semi-tropical varieties. These varieties can grow well in front of brick walls or you can espalier fruit trees against a sun facing wall if you live in a cooler climate. Surfaces that heat up during the day will release the heat slowly throughout the night. This effect can be used to mitigate frost damage in susceptible areas.

To help block the wind in a landscape or garden, It’s usually necessary to create some sort of barrier or break. It has been shown that solid barriers like wooden fences create areas of turbulence on each side. This is common knowledge to most landscaping contractors. The best kind of barriers are those that are only half solid. A partial barrier like that will work more like a filter rather than a solid baracade. You can use trees or shrubs with sparce foliage, open board fencing or even brick fencing with spaces between the bricks to make a good barrier.

Ponds, pools, and other areas of water will create different effects in microclimates. Depending on the size of the pond, it more or less keeps the air temperature stable. A pond reflects light from its surface, so plants surrounding a pond tend to get both more water and more light than those planted elsewhere. However, even though a pond has a cooling effect on its surroundings in the heat of Summer, it can also have a very chilly effect in Winter. Keep this in mind when you’re considering where to place a pond.

Both humans and vegetation do well when you give your microclimates some thought and propper planning.