Ever feel like you spend hours planting, watering and weeding your flower beds but they never seem to fill out and flourish? If your lighting conditions aren’t right, no amount of fertilizer, water or weeding will matter. Check the information tag on the plant before buying it. Before going to the plant store, take time to check the hours of sunlight received in various areas of your yard. Write down the locations and the hours of sunlight.

What plant tags mean:
Full Sun: The plant needs at least six hours of direct sunlight daily. Good choices include yarrow, aster, coreopsis, purple cornflower, day lilies, poppies and black-eyed Susans.
Partial Sun: The plant needs four or five hours of sunlight per day. Try coral bells, viburnum, oak leaf hydrangea, rhododendron, or azaleas.
Full Shade: Plants will tolerate little or no direct sunshine. Dappled sunshine through the trees is a plus; however, good full-shade plants include columbine, ajuga, astilbe, hosta, bleeding hearts, foxglove, Virginia bluebells and ferns. When deciding how much water plants need, remember that the amount of sunlight in an area also affects plant moisture levels. Shaded areas are more likely to stay damp, while full-sun locations will dry out more quickly. Adding three or four inches of mulch around the plant base will help retain moisture and insulate the root zone.