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The New Independent Home
by Michael Potts
from chapter 11 :
Beneath the Trees |
Houses and trees are equals, but the understory is more our size. Shrubs and other greenery soften harsh weather, humidify and cool us on hot days, and slow winter's gusts. Deciduous plants, especially vines trained to a trellis, extend living space and offer blessed shade in summer but retire graciously thereby permitting access to added warmth in winter when the sun comes in more weakly at a lower angle. Seasonal plantings draw our attention outside, and remind us that we are a part of a larger picture.
Native plants thriving on a home site may suffer when a house takes their sun or changes a feature of the microclimate on which they rely; by studying their habits before construction begins, and re-establishing them as soon as possible, we help to preserve and even improve the natural relationships that originally drew us to the site. The north side of a house offers precious shade and moister microclimate for delicate species; here in Caspar, native violets, rhododendrons, and fuchsias thrive if they are also sheltered by trees from nor'westerlies. Such northern gardens, well protected from the wind and selectively viewed through small super-glass windows, can brighten rooms on the utilitarian dark side of a house.
Storm run-off, including that from roof drainage, paving, or hardscaping, is one of the most devastating long-term effects of development. Nature holds water and slows its progress across the land; too often, development hastens its passage. If rainfall, which is easily ignored because it takes place when we are safely indoors, is anticipated and managed, we can create or improve habitat. By capturing, redirecting, and even storing run-off, we can care for plants that normally require more or less moisture than the local climate provides.
Roof catchment of rainwater in cisterns or ponds, coupled with direct solar water pumping, provides appropriate and satisfying ways to lengthen growing seasons and encourage wetland plants on a normally dry site. At one farm, a sub-array of photovoltaic panels contributes to the home electrical supply in winter when there is less sun; when the rains stop, this array is switched over to pumping water from the river at the property's low point to a large tank on the ridge above for gravity irrigation.
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