Microclimate

During the Native Plant Garden tour hours yesterday I visited a beautiful garden in the outer Richmond district.  Chatting with the gardener (the talented Julie Swift of Wild Natives), talk turned to microclimate (surprise!) and she pointed out how many microclimates there are just within the property we were on. Most visually dramatic were two coffee berry plants, bought from the same nursery at the same time, and planted on opposite sides of the house. I got excitable in my microclimate nerdiness, and whipped out my phone to document this phenomena.

This little coffee berry is in the back yard, east of the two story house.

This big fat coffee berry is in the front, on the west side of the house, exposed to long hours of afternoon sun, unlike its small friend in the back yard. This was taken from further away- I shall have to perfect this microclimate comparison photography I see. But you get the gist- microclimate makes a difference!