Wind is a ruthless partner and a relentless redesigner of gardens. Unless you can create some shelter; such gardening as you achieve will always be courtesy of the prevailing winds, Watch your garden over the first year and talk to the local people. See where the strongest winds come from, and the coldest ones. This will tell you where and when you need shelter.
Many a fine garden is made in exposed places and climates where winter lasts seven months out of twelve. Here, the need to keep out cold, drying winter winds is a major factor in designing the garden. It may drive you to make all your summer views internal ones, looking across the garden rather than beyond it. When the leaves fall in autumn, you will have the greater part of the year to appreciate the views through a tracery of trunks and branches.
In summer, you will have some shelter in which to grow fewer ironclad species and in which to relax and enjoy the summer’s gardening. Be wary of planting wholly coniferous shelter belts, or you will lose all of your views all the time. It is a desperate measure for desperate circumstances only.
In warmer climates, summer winds may be the ones to cause trouble, ragging soft new foliage and withering young shoots at their most tender stage. At the seaside, the problem may be salt-laden winds, which will burn the foliage of many species for a mile or more inland.
Credit: Sarniebill
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