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Can my west-facing balcony not receive direct light or do I get that wrong?

MizumiMizumi Posts: 3
in Plants
Hi! I am newbie about plants, for now I have only Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, but I would like to buy more variety of flowers. I don't really understand the concept of direct and indirect light and full sun. I have the impression that my rooms with east-facing windows are longer bright than those with west-faceing windows (let me know if it is possible, in the end, the eastern windows face the street, and the western ones face the tree-lined yard and are covered with balconies).

Mainly my question, however, is about my west-facing balcony. The balcony is roofed and tall, branchy trees grow in front of it. There are also buildings surrounding the yard around. Am I assuming that in this situation, even though my balcony is west-facing, it is neither in full sun nor direct light (most of the time)? Currently, even at 1 pm there is a shadow on it.
Is that possible for west-facing balcony to receive indirect light all day long (except for maybe 3 or less hours in the afternoon) and be part sun/ part shade (not sure which one is more correct)?

What trees / tall plants would you recommend in such a situation?

Posts

  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    A west facing side of the building will start to receive direct sunlight from early afternoon and all day from then on.  East facing will receive direct sunlight until around midday.
  • MizumiMizumi Posts: 3
    edited June 2022
    @KT53 I generally get that, but is that possible that because of trees and roof it never gets direct light and is more part sun / part shade than full sun? 
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Yes, local conditions can alter that.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    Can you post a photo of what you see if you stand on your balcony and look westwards?
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • MizumiMizumi Posts: 3
    @raisingirl Here it is. Also I just noticed that half of it actually gets some of hot, direct light rn, but the other half stays all the time in shadow. Should I then consider it as two spaces? One for full sun plants and the other for part sun/ shade plants?
  • edhelkaedhelka Posts: 2,351
    Full sun would be 6 hours of direct sun.
    What you have there is probably a mix of shade, part shade and filtered light (light through the trees). But hard to tell.
  • celcius_kkwcelcius_kkw Posts: 753
    To be honest I think you should forget about west facing or not.. just observe your balcony day to day and you will have an idea which part of it gets the sun and for how long. A south facing balcony may not get much sun if it’s obstructed by trees or a wall.. I have had a roof terrace for 4 years now and I know which part gets the most sun and which bit tends to be shaded by an awkward wall that blocks out of the light. I suppose that’s called micro climate. 

    Just keep an eye during the day, noon and evening, take note of the sections that actually have sun shining on them and you can make a decision as to which plants go where. 

    The other thing to consider when you’re on a high rise balcony is the exposure to wind - my terrace for example is very windy, but there are sheltered pockets (again, think micro climate) - I therefore put plants that can withstand wind in the exposed spots and the more delicate ones in the sheltered areas. 
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited June 2022
    It's likely that the sun will shift in angle through the year for you, too. The trees will lose their leaves in the winter (I imagine) which means you might get more winter sun.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    As @celcius_kkw says, just observe what happens. What you seem to have there, due to the neighbouring trees, is essentially shady, although you may have a corner that gets a bit more light. West facing sites would generally be considered semi shade or part sun [pretty much the same thing]  unless there's a lot of other planting or buildings etc, blocking it, or alternatively - if there's nothing around to block sun at all. 
    The number of hours of sun is calculated by summer conditions, so that's all you need to be concerned about re any planting. Full sun would be 6 or 7 hours of sun in summer, part shade is when plants are getting around 3 or 4 hours at best. If you look for planting that is happy in part sun/shade, that will be ideal, but wind is a big factor on balconies as celsius_kkw says, so you'd need to bear that in mind with any plants so that they don't dry out.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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