The front of my place has been a challenge for me. My house faces due north. There is a very distinct line that separates full sun from full shade..err..full shadow. That would be fine except that the line moves with the seasons so a plant that is in full shade in the spring and fall must endure full blazing hot sun during the summer. I think next year I am going to try more things in pots that I can shift around.

A good thing about the shadow of a house is that it is pretty constant. Your house will not slowly engulf your entire yard with deep shade and it does not have aggressive roots that suck the nutrients and water from the soil.

- Brent

Actually, Ink, you have brought up an interesting subject. Suggest spending some time searching "law + blocking sunlight" for some interesting reading.

Back in the 70's environmentalists were forecasting future oil shortages and the need for alternative energy sources. Although solar was in its infancy and very expensive, it was deemed necessary to pass laws for the future protecting sun rights. There was a special name for this legislation and I am unable to remember it. I voted for it as an elected official receiving strong pressure to do so from both environmentalists and architects. The new issue of Forbes (10/29/07) has an interesting article stating that "solar technology is approaching commercial feasibility."

You ask about shade cast by trees and "how would this effect design considerations". As you do the 'search' I suggested you will note that the subject of trees has been dealt with by the courts in a number of ways. At this point in time the prudent designer should be thinking about the future impact of proposed shade trees and the sun rights of adjacent properties. Welcome to the world of 'Going Green'.

One of the differences...shade caused by deciduous trees disappears when the leaves fall. Shadow shifts only with the season/angle of the sun. Shade can be mitigated by limbing up...shadow not so much.

This does make for some interesting reading and I wonder how far away we are from realizing tree planting is just one arrow in the quiver of going green and might not be the one with the most lasting benefit. I sense shade and shadow issues would come into play more in new housing or commercial development where alternate energy systems are installed from the get go as opposed to random conversions. Homeowners who want to landscape and landscapers who want to design will have to take this into serious consideration sometime - but it won't happen until our collective energy consumptive backs are against a wall.

You may have a private nuisance action against your neighbor if a tree or offending shade producing structure constitutes a substantial and unreasonable interference.

Regarding the Preservation of Solar Access - in Connecticut, it appears that the homeowner could enter into agreements with his or her neighbors to obtain an easement to preserve solar access for the system. If the neighbor violated the easement, for example by enlarging the size of his building or allowing vegetation to grow to block sunlight from reaching the system, the homeowner could seek relief from the courts.

In addition, the homeowner may have some protection under zoning law. Standard provisions of municipal zoning ordinances, such as limits on the height of buildings, can limit the ability of the owner of an adjoining property from modifying his property in a way that blocks sunlight from reaching the solar system.

In Common Law, under the English doctrine of "ancient lights" if a landowner and his ancestors had received sunlight across an adjoining property for a specified period of time, the landowner was entitled to continue to receive this benefit. He could prevent his neighbor from obstructing his access to light. Under these circumstances, the landowner was said to have an easement by prescription to "light and air" over his neighbor's property.

The dictionary difference is that a shadow is caused by total blockage of light, and shade is only a screening of light causing comparative darkness to the adjacent area.

So, I'll go along with New York, and welcome shade or shadow when weather is hot.

This sounds like a test question asked to make students (us?) aware of the effects of blocking light. The first example that comes to my mind is the placement of a deciduous tree to cast shade in the summer and let in light in the winter.

For once your dictionary serves you well maro. Translating this into an answer to my question: when contemplating a garden as a blank slate we can effect the pattern of shade by what trees we plant but the shadow from the house or an adjacent buildings should also be taken into account. As your dictionary says "total blockage of light" is a different consideration.

It is never pitch black in a building shadow, during the day. Direct radiation is blocked, but "Shadow" has different intensities as well due to diffuse radiation coming in from the surroundings.

For a forest with a large multi-layer canopy shadow is created, the Black Forest or other places of mythos, and these are places or images of foreboding.

LOL, rhodium! I always get in trouble paraphrasing the dictionary. Here's what it said about 'shadow': '1. a dark figure or image cast on the ground or other surface by a body intercepting light.' It never mentioned 'pitch black.'

Something filtering some light through it would produce shade. In the Black Forest, I suppose if no light filtered through the canopy, the shade would technically be shadow.

Well, shadow seems to connote blockage by something 100% opaque, a building being an example. Anything that allows light to filter through (i.e. not 100% opaque) creates shade. This really isn't the final determining factor on how dark it becomes within the shadow/shade, as reflected light will have a great deal of influence.

- Audric

Will it be Green vs Green?

Trees block sun - bad for solar energy systems

Trees remove CO2 - good for the air

What about the feelings that are evoked by being immersed in darkness....

Shade can be comforting, but dark shadow is not.
The elements that cause the shadow/shade are integrally related to these feelings. For dark shadow on a sunny day a very confining space would be necessary. for Dark shade a very confining planting area.