Have you thought about how your Microclimate in the garden affects how well your plants grow?
You may be wondering why some plants don’t bloom. Or perhaps others get scorched leaves, even if the same plants seem to be doing well in your neighbor’s garden.
The key is understanding – or creating – different “climates” in your garden.
I recently visited Paul Seaborne from Pelham Plants nursery. He and his partner created a garden out of an exposed, windy and uneven donkey field, creating a series of microclimates in the garden primarily by dividing the garden with hedges.
Paul Seaborne of Pelham Plants and his partner created this lush and vibrant garden from a windswept donkey paddock. They have created places and shady corners protected by hedges.
What is a microclimate in the garden?
It is a small area in your garden where weather conditions are different than 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 an east-facing garden that may receive a lot of wind.
However, you can find or create a sheltered spot in your garden. This can be an area protected by a shed or the wall of the house. Or you can add a hedge or a south-facing wall. This creates a small microclimate in which your garden is sunnier and less windy.
A microclimate in the garden is the area near the wall of the house. The wall protects the plants from the wind. And if your house is made of bricks, the bricks absorb sunlight during the day and release it at night.
Plants near a house benefit from its protection and warmth. Sometimes you can grow more delicate or exotic plants near your home. Paul has surrounded Rose Cottage with a series of hedges to protect the plants but still have open sky directly above. The house’s brick walls absorb heat during the day and release it at night, making it warmer than a few feet away.
If you don’t have storage space, some tender plants can safely overwinter if grown close to the house. The effect is less if your house is built of wood or other materials, but in winter you may still feel the warming effect of the house.
To create a microclimate in the garden with hedges, you don’t necessarily have to create rows of dark leaves. Here two of Paul’s hedges protect the plants from the wind. A miscanthus hedge can be seen in the foreground. And behind it is a dramatically trimmed hornbeam hedge. The Miscanthus hedge protects the Stipa behind it – before the hedges grew, the Stipa was once torn from the earth by the wind!
Here’s how to start creating a garden microclimate
When they moved into Rose Cottage it was surrounded by a rough field where the previous owner had kept donkeys and horses. So there were no borders or lawns.
They gradually began to define boundaries. As a plant lover, her priority was to “have fun with plants” and grow as many different species as possible.
So there was no general “design”, just selective experiments.
The first step in creating a microclimate in the garden is to assess what is present. Rose Cottage is on the edge of the forest 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” – surrounded by forest on two sides.
Although there is scenery, there is no view. “I can understand that people with beautiful coastal views have to put up with the wind because they don’t want to block the view,” says Paul. But that wasn’t a problem for us. “We didn’t want the wind.”
So they planted hornbeam hedges in wonderful shapes and in almost random locations to create a range of microclimates in the garden.
With the warmth of the brick and tile house behind it and a sheltered hedge on one side, tender, sun-loving plants can grow on this bed. The sun doesn’t shine on it all day, but there is about 6 hours of sun a day, which is all that is needed. And some shade will keep the border from drying out in hot, dry weather.
You can also create a microclimate in the garden by adding a wall or even a garden building. Read this post on “ruins” and gardening crazes to learn how dividing the garden and adding focal points can help create a microclimate in the garden.
Assess your garden’s strengths…
Paul says observation is an important part of gardening. If a plant doesn’t bloom or has burnt leaves, it is either in a location that is too sunny or too shady.
You can move the plant – or create the right spot in your garden!
The plants in the garden serve as storage beds for the Pelham Plants nursery. All the plants you buy from them – whether you go to the nursery or buy at the Plant Fairs Roadshow – are grown in the garden and in the nursery. Through the plants in the garden, Paul has a good idea of what different plants need. “For example, some plants can be thirstier than others,” he says.
This is one of the reasons why purchasing from an independent nursery is so helpful. Anyone who has grown the plants themselves locally, either by sowing or propagating, really knows how the plants grow.
The garden at Rose Cottage is a “storage bed” for the plants sold at 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 with white flowers and lime green leaves, but the leaves were burned by the sun and wind.”
After planting trees and hedges, we were able to grow plants like Heuchera along with Hakonechloa macra and other shade-loving perennials.
Paul planted the hedge and silver birch to provide enough shade for heucheras and ferns to grow.
Which hedges to choose to create a microclimate in the garden?
Paul wanted to make an impact quickly and without spending a lot of money. “I always plant a hedge when it’s about 15cm high,” he says. “That’s why we chose the hornbeam because it grows quickly.”
Even in winter, the hornbeam retains its leaves and can be wonderfully shaped. But be warned: Once established, it will need to be trimmed three times a year as it grows quickly.
They also thought about the beech tree, which retains its brown leaves even in winter and can also be cut into shape. However, the beech tree doesn’t like to be in wet soil in winter and Paul decided that the spot might be too wet for that.
Two chairs stand between a hornbeam hedge and a lower Chinese reed hedge. This means they catch the sun but are shielded from the window. Hornbeams can also be beautifully shaped, and the depression directly behind them also lets in more sun.
Boxwood was once a popular hedging plant, but boxwood blight and the boxwood caterpillar make it unwise to plant boxwood. Even if you haven’t had a boxwood borer in your area yet, it is quickly spreading around the world. Find out more about the boxwood moth caterpillar here.
For more hedge choices, check out this post.
And you don’t have to choose shrubs as hedge. Denser ornamental grasses such as Calamagrostis and Miscanthus can also filter the wind, although they are cut to the ground once a year and therefore only serve as hedges in summer and autumn.
There is no need to secure a room. The hedge in this garden stops and starts, leading you through narrow archways. They are cut in curved, irregular shapes.
The newest mini hedge is a small row of about four Portuguese laurel plants in the front yard. As they grow, they form a glossy, evergreen windbreak near the front path.
Even a gentle slope influences the microclimate of your garden
Paul explained that the Rose Cottage garden sits on a gentle slope. “You might not even notice. But it tilts the ground slightly to the north.”
This means the garden will be cooler than a similar garden if it were flat or had a slight south-facing slope. “In winter, this can mean that frost stays on the ground longer than normal,” says Paul. “But in summer it means the garden doesn’t dry out as quickly on a sunny day. This means the plants will flower later, but they will look fresher than other gardens which can dry out after a few weeks of sun and drought.”
You can see that the garden slopes towards the terrace. It is only a gentle slope, but it influences the microclimate in the garden. But it also means that the terrace on the house is completely surrounded by beautiful plants.
For more information about gardening in a slope garden, check out this post. And here we explain how to plant on a slope.
If you can’t create your ideal garden microclimate…
You may not always be able to do something about the problems in your garden. For example, if you have a shady corner due to nearby buildings, it is unlikely that you will be able to demolish it.
In this case, figure out what you can enjoy in that space – or what plants will grow there. Check out 10 ideas for shady garden corners – and two to avoid!
“The right plant, the right place” is one of the most famous gardening sayings. This means that it is important to choose sun-loving plants for sunny locations and shade-loving plants for shady locations.
And also consider other factors such as wind, soil type and winter temperatures. Find more windy garden plants and solutions here.
One of the most difficult areas to plant can be the “partial shade.” There are so many different types of partial shade. When customers ask about good plants for partial shade, Paul always discusses the exact conditions. This is worth remembering! Learn more about how to choose plants for different types of shade in this post.
For example, if you have very dry, poor soil, you may want to consider creating a dry garden (or gravel garden).
For more information about the Rose Cottage garden, see the video
There are some lovely views of the Rose Cottage garden in this video as well as further advice from Paul.
Pin to remind you of your garden’s microclimate
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