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A windy garden can be a blessing or a curse. Naturally, windy gardens often receive the best views, including some beautiful glimpses of the coast, and wind is incredibly beneficial to plant growth, as increased turbulence leads to an increased supply of carbon dioxide to plants, resulting in greater photosynthesis amounts. However, garden owners rarely get to enjoy their outdoor space in a windy garden, since it’s just too blustery! If you just want to enjoy your garden, never fear. Here’s how to create shelter in a windy garden so you can make the most of your outdoor space no matter the direction of the wind.
Create Garden Rooms
Garden rooms are a form of zoning, or dividing your garden into defined sections. Zoning allows you to make the most of your outdoor space by creating a series of different spaces dedicated to certain activities, such as dining, socialising or playing. Doing so works to make your garden feel bigger and ensure that it functions smoothly.
However, garden rooms go a step further by making these spaces feel like actual rooms. To do this, garden rooms require physical separation from the rest of the garden. Like a room in your home, you have to put some kind of wall between the defined space and your garden. Of course, you could do this by building an outhouse, an actual room in your garden. Or you could create a more natural garden room by dividing your space with shrubbery, tall trees or screening. This way, you can make full use of the space without feeling too closed in.
Figuring out how to create shelter in a windy garden is easy with garden rooms. By using tall hedging, trees and screens, you can craft incredible garden rooms for some more aesthetic windy garden ideas. As long as you choose sturdy structures to shelter your zoned areas, you can enjoy relaxing outdoors without the risk of that chilly breeze ruining your day.
Find out more about zoning with our garden design ideas guide
Install Sheltered Garden Seating
Sheltered garden seating is a simple windy garden solution as it doesn’t require too much work but will keep you protected from the wind while trying to enjoy your outdoor space. For the best sheltered seating in a windy garden, you’ll want to try and create a warmer microclimate. If you’re fortunate, your garden may already be able to provide you with one.
Look for parts of your garden that are already sheltered and warmer, such as behind a hedge, the lee of your home or an outbuilding, like a summer house or a shed. These spots will already be protected from the oncoming winds and are the perfect place for you to set up sheltered garden seating.
However, if you are unlucky enough to have every spot of your garden exposed to the forceful winds, you can create a sheltered spot. For example, you could set up a parasol, canopy or arbour for instant cover with little fuss. Set up an outdoor wooden bench beneath your shelter so you can enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee in the morning, relaxing in a wind-free spot!
Take a look at some our garden shelter ideas for more sheltered garden seating inspiration
Grow A Natural Wind Filter
As we touched on earlier, trees and hedges work wonders when considering how to create shelter in a windy garden without obscuring your view. This is because they filter the wind, rather than stop it completely, meaning you can reduce the amount of wind that will reach your space[i]. On the other hand, if you build solid walls, they will instead funnel the wind, causing it to move in a circular way and around the wall.
So, use this to your advantage and grow a natural wind filter with screening trees. There are several tolerant trees and shrubs that you can grow to filter the wind, including:
- Pine trees
- Aspen trees
- Birch trees
- Cedar trees
- Blackthorn
- Cotoneaster
- Gorse
- Hazel
For more exposed locations, you can put up temporary windbreak fencing until your trees and shrubs establish themselves. Once your new wind filters have fully grown, consider adding a tree bench around the trunk for the perfect sheltered garden seating spot.
Design A Sunken Garden
A sunken garden is as fun – and self-explanatory – as it sounds. A sunken garden sits below the average level of its surroundings, creating privacy and shelter in any garden. Of course, for an effective shelter against the wind, you’ll want to lower only a section of your garden. This way, you can create a warm microclimate out of the wind.
Once you’ve installed your sunken garden, you can treat it as a sheltered seating area. Add some slim-line furniture for an intimate atmosphere, hang some lights and perhaps add a fire pit for the perfect socialising and relaxing space.
Plant Wind-Resistant Flowers
One of the worst things about a windy garden for a gardener is that wind can damage plants. So, if you are a gardener looking for how to create shelter in a windy garden for your plants, consider changing your planting scheme. There are plenty of plants for windy gardens for you to add that won’t break in the wind, such as:
- Zinnia
- Geranium
- Marigold
- Coreopsis
- Gazania
- Lavender
- Shasta daisy
- Alyssum
- Portulaca
Alternatively, if you’d like to brighten up your sheltered garden seating area, wind-resistant flowers are certainly one of the best options. Rather than fall and break in the wind, they will sway and flow, bringing your garden to life and adding a bit of excitement.
Windy Garden Solutions
Learning how to create shelter in a windy garden can be vital to their owners. By implementing some of our windy garden solutions, you can start enjoying your garden without worrying about being blown back inside. Good luck!
Do you have any windy garden ideas? Let us know your thoughts!
Sources
[i] http://www.gcnursery.co.uk/windbreak.htm
