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Joined: Oct 2006
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Hi everyone. This may be a dumb question, but I'm wondering at what time of day you start counting the hours of sun, to determine if a spot is full sun or part shade. Would you start counting at sunrise (about 6-6:30am)or would you start counting at a different time, like when the sun gets bright at about 8am? Thanks so much!

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When the sun hits the spot you are trying to decide it's exposure. For example my garden is behind my building so the sun doesn't get to it until around 9:00a.m. but it gets sun from then until evening so it is full sun except where a maple shades part of it. That part gets dappled sunlight so it's considered part shade.

At least that's the way I understand it.


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Yup, TK that's the way I do it as well. I just count the hours of sun it gets on a sunny day.


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Thanks. So you only count bright sun then, not morning sun?

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Sorry if I confused you guys. What I really meant to ask was if you count hours of early morning sun or not. I have a bed that gets sun from early morning (sunrise) until about noon.

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That's considered part shade then. Hope I didn't confuse you lol .


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Down here in Virginia my full sun plants do well with that. that's what I have in my containers. The sun blocks those from about 3 on.


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Thanks everyone. How many hours of sun would you count mine as then? That's what I'm confused about because I don't know when to start counting the morning sun.

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I guess I'm not sure now either. I know the afternoon sun is stronger but I've always just counted the number of hours any sun hit a spot not making a distinction as to whether it was morning or evening. I guess I was wrong.


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Gardenkitten -
Full Sun - 6 or more hours with most of it between 11 & 4.
Part Sun -Sun from 11/Noon to 4.
Part Shade - Sun from sunrise to 11/Noon

Shade - filtered, dappled or partial shade from sunrise to 4. More light than dense shade. Like outer areas of a trees dripline.
Dense Shade - No rays or beams filtering into the area at any point of the day.

When a plant needs 6 or 8 hours of sun that means full sun, most of it direct and in the afternoon from noon on.

With your part shade site that's good for plants that can tolerate some sun but need shade from direct afternoon sun. Geraniums and impatients do well in a site like this. You want to count sun hours as direct sun. This site would not be enough direct hours of sun for roses.





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Wow, I didn't realize you started counting that late. I'm getting a lot less sun than I thought in that spot! Thanks a lot for the info.


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