What grows here?

The classic answer to a sightline when there is no room for a hedge.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 8. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 5 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.

Watch for: Narrow forms lose their shape if the top is ever cut. Buy the mature height you want.

Examples, not recommendations: Columnar hornbeam; Italian cypress in mild dry climates; Upright yew in cool climates. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

Dense all year, and it wants more width than people allow for.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 10. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surface heat here is not the limiting factor.

Watch for: A hedge kept below its natural width thins at the base, which is exactly where a seated sightline runs.

Examples, not recommendations: Yew; Portuguese laurel; Holly. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

Screens in summer, filters in winter, and holds brown leaves through the cold.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 10. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 4 to 8. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.

Watch for: Winter screening is partial. If the problem is a winter sightline, this is not the answer.

Examples, not recommendations: Beech; Hornbeam. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

Salt air is a different problem from wind, and this is the group that solves both.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 16. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surface heat here is not the limiting factor.

Watch for: Salt tolerance is specific. A plant that shrugs off wind inland can still burn in a coastal gale.

Examples, not recommendations: Escallonia; Griselinia; Elaeagnus. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

Summer shade that gives the winter sun back. The best shade device there is, and the slowest.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 14. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 4 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.

Watch for: Mature spread is the number that matters, and it is almost always larger than the space allowed.

Examples, not recommendations: Field maple; Serviceberry; Hop hornbeam. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

Shade over a pergola in July and bare timber in January, which is usually exactly right.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 14. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surface heat here is not the limiting factor.

Watch for: Wisteria in particular puts real load on a structure. Build for it before planting it.

Examples, not recommendations: Grape vine; Wisteria, given the structure for it; Virginia creeper. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

For the places that genuinely never see the sun, where most 'shade' plants still fail.

• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 4 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surfaces here reach about 122°F. A container in that is a watering commitment, not a planting decision.

Watch for: True deep shade is under three moles a day. Most plants sold as shade-tolerant want double that.

Examples, not recommendations: Hart's tongue fern; Epimedium; Asarum. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

The plant group that genuinely wants the conditions people apologise for.

• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 4 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surfaces here reach about 122°F. A container in that is a watering commitment, not a planting decision.

Watch for: Ferns burn in reflected heat off a pale wall even in a spot with very little direct sun.

Examples, not recommendations: Dryopteris; Polystichum; Athyrium. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

The classic answer to a sightline when there is no room for a hedge.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 8. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 5 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.

Watch for: Narrow forms lose their shape if the top is ever cut. Buy the mature height you want.

Examples, not recommendations: Columnar hornbeam; Italian cypress in mild dry climates; Upright yew in cool climates. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

Summer shade that gives the winter sun back. The best shade device there is, and the slowest.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 14. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 4 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.

Watch for: Mature spread is the number that matters, and it is almost always larger than the space allowed.

Examples, not recommendations: Field maple; Serviceberry; Hop hornbeam. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

For the places that genuinely never see the sun, where most 'shade' plants still fail.

• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 4 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surfaces here reach about 122°F. A container in that is a watering commitment, not a planting decision.

Watch for: True deep shade is under three moles a day. Most plants sold as shade-tolerant want double that.

Examples, not recommendations: Hart's tongue fern; Epimedium; Asarum. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

The plant group that genuinely wants the conditions people apologise for.

• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 4 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surfaces here reach about 122°F. A container in that is a watering commitment, not a planting decision.

Watch for: Ferns burn in reflected heat off a pale wall even in a spot with very little direct sun.

Examples, not recommendations: Dryopteris; Polystichum; Athyrium. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

The workhorse of a north-facing bed that gets a couple of hours of sun.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 6. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 4 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.

Watch for: These fail from dryness under a wall or a tree far more often than they fail from shade.

Examples, not recommendations: Hellebore; Geranium; Hosta where slugs allow. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

The hardest brief in gardening: no light and no water, under a tree.

• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 4 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.
• Light: About 4.7 moles a day, against an ideal of 12. This is the right light band.

Watch for: Everything struggles here for the first two years. Water through the establishment period or nothing works.

Examples, not recommendations: Epimedium; Vinca; Geranium macrorrhizum. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

Built for hard sun, sharp drainage and being ignored.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 20. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surface heat here is not the limiting factor.

Watch for: Wet feet in winter kills these more reliably than cold does. Drainage, not hardiness, is the question.

Examples, not recommendations: Lavender; Rosemary; Cistus. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

Wants a hot wall, a lot of light and someone who waters it.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 20. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surface heat here is not the limiting factor.

Watch for: A container against a sunlit wall can run twenty degrees above air temperature. That is a watering problem, not a light problem.

Examples, not recommendations: Basil; Thyme in a deep pot; Oregano. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

For the herb pot by the back door that only gets morning sun.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 8. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 4 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.

Watch for: Below about eight moles a day these survive without ever being worth picking.

Examples, not recommendations: Parsley; Chives; Mint, contained. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

The most light-hungry thing most people try to grow, and the one most often put in the wrong place.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 22. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surface heat here is not the limiting factor.

Watch for: Leaves grow at fifteen moles a day; fruit needs more than twenty. That gap is why people get plants and no crop.

Examples, not recommendations: Tomato; Pepper; Courgette. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

The thing that stops a bed looking empty in February.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 8. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surface heat here is not the limiting factor.

Watch for: Clipped evergreens in containers dry out from the root ball in, and the damage shows a season late.

Examples, not recommendations: Box alternatives such as Japanese holly; Pittosporum; Osmanthus. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

Built for hard sun, sharp drainage and being ignored.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 20. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surface heat here is not the limiting factor.

Watch for: Wet feet in winter kills these more reliably than cold does. Drainage, not hardiness, is the question.

Examples, not recommendations: Lavender; Rosemary; Cistus. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

Wants a hot wall, a lot of light and someone who waters it.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 20. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Reflected heat: Surface heat here is not the limiting factor.

Watch for: A container against a sunlit wall can run twenty degrees above air temperature. That is a watering problem, not a light problem.

Examples, not recommendations: Basil; Thyme in a deep pot; Oregano. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.

For the herb pot by the back door that only gets morning sun.

• Light: This spot gives about 4.7 moles a day and this wants at least 8. It will live and it will not perform.
• Moisture: This spot sits wetter than this group tolerates. Wet feet kill far more plants than cold does.
• Hardiness: Zone 9.7 is outside this group's usual range of 4 to 9. Hardiness is a floor, not a plan.

Watch for: Below about eight moles a day these survive without ever being worth picking.

Examples, not recommendations: Parsley; Chives; Mint, contained. What is right here is a question for a nursery that can see the site.