Gardens can help cool the house

July 15, 10:11 AMBackyard Living ExaminerJane Gates

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Gardens can help cool the house (Photo by Jane Gates)

Gardens can actually help cool your house. With higher utility costs and budgets tightening, spending less to keep the house cooler during the summer is an important consideration for many people.

The biggest heat reducer your landscape can offer for your house is shade. Shading your house from hot sun can save you up to thirty percent of your cooling costs. Plus, attractive shade trees make your house cozy, soften the hard, angular lines of the structure, and offer cleaner air. Design trees into your landscape. They are particularly effective if designed on the south or west facing sides of your house so they cast shadows over the structure during the hottest times of the day. Trees built on the north facing side of a building will offer shade only when branches are directly over the house and the sun is at high-noon, so if you put trees on that side of the house, you won’t get much help. Also consider that you really don’t want to plant trees too close to the house itself. Branches scraping your walls and roof in winds are destructive, trees that overhang a house can potentially conduct flame and be a fire hazard, overhanging branches offer ladders for rodents and other pests to get to your roof, and if the branches are too close to the house, you can figure the roots are also way too close to your house foundation. So, plant your trees far enough away from the house that they offer shade, yet do not cause problems.

Shading the air conditioning unit can save you ten percent of your energy bills, too. You could build a simple trellis or lattice wall around the air conditioner and possibly grow attractive flowering vines over it. Or you could really get enthusiastic and build a shade structure: pergola, ramada, umbrella or other decorative feature over an air conditioner. Locating the air conditioner on the north side of the house where it will be in shade naturally is the easiest solution if it can be arranged. You can also mask an unattractive air conditioning unit by creating a flower bed with disguising shrubs to surround it. Always make sure there is easy access to the air conditioning unit for servicing, and make sure no plant material or building material comes close enough to block good air circulation.

You can psychologically cool both your house and garden by adding the sound of water. The playful tinkle of even a small fountain can add a refreshing element to hot summer weather. Swimming pools with waterfalls built in, pondless waterfalls or ponds and larger decorative fountains will all add beautiful focal points to the landscape while creating restful, cooling sounds that will comfort both outdoors and indoors when windows are open. The sound of water can also help create a ‘white noise’ that will cover up surrounding traffic, neighbors or other less desirable ambient sound.

Lawns can also help cool your home as can flower gardens and shrubs. Lawns are water guzzlers so use them where you will get the most benefit. Because they absorb heat and carry moisture, lawns close to the house will help a little with cooling. You are more likely to use grassy areas for play and exercise if they are planted convenient to the house. Flower gardens can also absorb heat and will gift you with color and beauty as a bonus. And you can grow water-thrifty gardens that look just as good as the thirstier ones.

Another way to enjoy comfort in the heat of the summer is to make your garden into an extension of your house and go out and USE the space in the cooler evening hours. Low voltage lights make the garden inviting in the cool hours of nighttime. We are fortunate to have a lot fewer biting insects than most other parts of the country, so spending evenings in the outdoor garden is a great way to cool off at home. You can set up a table on your patio or a picnic area in the garden and enjoy dining ‘out’ without the extra expense. Add a little lighting for the nighttime hours and your garden can become one of the most comfortable ‘rooms’ on your property – even in the heat of summer!

Two eco-friendly forms of gardening that are becoming popular are the green roof and the vertical garden. Both are forms of gardening that can cool the house or other structures.  Green roofs can be grown on patio roofs or other structures and expand your gardening area onto surfaces that normally just collect heat. The vertical wall is built of special units that allow you to grow plants in tiers or pockets UP a wall instead of flat on the ground. Both can become very decorative and both create very efficient insulation barriers. Before jumping into one of these new ‘green’ forms of construction, do a little research. They have to be built carefully and properly. But they do offer fun, affordable, ecologically friendly and decorative solutions to cooling your home in the summer.

These are just some ways that gardens can help cool the house and lower air conditioning costs while increasing the enjoyment of your landscaping during the summer.