Secret Ancient Planting Techniques of the Aztec Revealed That Lower Your Power Bill

700 hundred years ago, the ancient Aztec civilization perfected the knowledge of controlling shade and wind through the planting of trees and shrubs.

By taking this ancient knowledge, you can harness the power of your landscaping to provide shade and keep you cool. You can work the sun to your advantage in both the winter and summer by planting both deciduous trees and shrubs. You can increase or decrease the breeze through your house by knowing where to plant trees relative to your home.

Shade Plant and Winter Plant

A tree shading a wall or roof will lower the temperature by 20°F versus an unshaded wall or roof. During the hot summer months, shade under a tree can be as much as 25°F cooler than nearby brick or concrete.

Bricks and concrete hold a lot of heat. Scientists call this thermal mass. Thermal mass is the amount of heat energy a substance can hold. Bricks and concrete have a high thermal mass. Bark, plants, and even mulch don't hold much heat and therefore have low thermal mass.

If you have large windows on the south side of your house, you should shade plant a tree nearby to shade this side of your house. If you have sliding glass doors or even wide doors, you should do the same. In addition, you should shade plant over high thermal mass patios, porches, sidewalks, and decks. By planting deciduous plants (those that lose their leaves in the fall) you give yourself shade during the summer and warmth during the winter.

Most people know that they can shade their home from the sun. What most people don't know is that they can also control the wind around their home via landscaping which impacts the breeze they get through their house.

Little Known Secret Uses Landscaping To Control The Wind Around Your House

The first thing you need to do is to track the direction of the wind around your home. You need to determine the direction the wind blows around your home most of the time. This is called the prevailing wind. I recommend that you start a log. Take about 2 measurements a week for a total of 8 measurements a month. Do this over the course of a year. Draw a box in your log to represent your house as if you were looking straight down on it from above. Draw an arrow to indicate the prevailing wind. Make sure that you mark the location of each window on the box you draw. The prevailing wind might change over the course of the seasons. You'll need to decide which season is the most important for you to control the breeze in your home.

General Guidelines To Follow

Include in your design plants for both winter and summer.

You want evergreens to stop the wind in the winter.

Talk to the staff at a local nursery about your project and show them your drawing. They should know the perfect plants for each spot, and they can tell you how to get the fastest growth with fertilizers and water scheduling.

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