PLATE 06 · MANSION BLOCK LATERAL
The second bedroom has the sun until 17:26.
15:00 · sun 33° · 3 of 11 rooms in sun51.5°N · 19 Sep · clear sky
Every room, this minute
Clear sky · hours of direct sun anywhere on the room’s floor, found by the same test that draws the gold in the render above.
The same rooms, all year
One mid-month day per cell · clear sky · direct beam at the sunniest point on each room’s floor.
Every plant, where it stands
11 standing · 0 getting by · 8 want moving
Aloe veraStudy sill0.0h
Medium this month
A desert succulent. It wants the brightest spot in the house and most houses cannot provide it.
Leaves go thin and floppy and lose their upright fan.
Aloe vera · Arid Arabian Peninsula; full desert sun.
Boston fernCorridor0.0h
Low this month
Forest-floor light is dim and indirect; fronds have no defence against direct sun.
Fronds thin out and the centre of the plant stops producing new growth.
Nephrolepis exaltata · Humid forest floor in the tropical Americas, in dappled shade.
CalatheaSecond bedroom1.2h
Medium this month · Low from Oct
Its patterned leaves are solar panels for the dimmest light in the forest; direct sun overwhelms them.
Patterns fade and the plant stops folding its leaves at night.
Goeppertia orbifolia · Deep shade on the floor of Bolivian rainforest.
Fiddle leaf figDrawing room, south sash0.1h
Medium this month · Bright indirect from Apr
It begins as an epiphyte near the canopy, so it expects strong light and sulks without it.
Drops lower leaves one at a time and leans hard toward the window.
Ficus lyrata · Lowland West African rainforest, where it starts life high in another tree.
MonsteraDining room0.0h
Medium this month
It grows up trees toward light but under a canopy, so it is built for bright, broken light rather than open sun.
Leaves stop splitting and come in small and whole; stems stretch toward the window.
Monstera deliciosa · Understorey of Central American rainforest, climbing toward gaps in the canopy.
Peace lilyDressing room, no window0.0h
Low this month
A floor plant that flowers in shade; it needs far less than people give it.
Stops flowering but the foliage stays fine, which is why people rarely notice.
Spathiphyllum wallisii · Shaded, humid floor of Colombian and Venezuelan rainforest.
PothosMaster, north window1.2h
Medium this month · Low from Oct
Adapted to dim broken light under trees; it will live almost anywhere and grow faster where it is brighter.
Variegation fades to plain green and the vines go leggy between leaves.
Epipremnum aureum · Forest understorey in the Society Islands, trailing and climbing in broken shade.
Rubber plantLibrary window0.0h
Medium this month
A full-size forest tree in the wild; it wants bright light and takes some direct sun in its stride.
Lower leaves drop and the gaps between new leaves stretch out.
Ficus elastica · Lowland forest of northeast India and Southeast Asia, a canopy tree.
Snake plantBathroom, no window0.0h
Low this month
It tolerates almost anything because it evolved where the light is unreliable and the water more so.
Growth stops entirely, but it will sit unchanged for a year before complaining.
Dracaena trifasciata · Dry rocky ground in West Africa, full sun to deep shade.
Spider plantKitchen, north window1.2h
Medium this month · Low from Oct
Edge-of-forest light: plenty of brightness, not much full sun.
Stripes fade and it stops throwing out plantlets.
Chlorophytum comosum · Forest margins and riverbanks in southern Africa, in partial shade.
ZZ plantInner hall, no window0.0h
Low this month
Its rhizomes store water and its glossy leaves shed it; low light slows it, not kills it.
New stems come up long and pale and lean.
Zamioculcas zamiifolia · Dry grassland and forest edge in East Africa, through long droughts.
Fit is a month-long question, read at the plant’s own spot. It does not move with the hour rail.
The brightest spot in a room is found once, over the whole year, so every reading of that room is of the same square metre.