Using Color in the Garden
As harmony is to a tune, so colour is to a garden: it gives a more precise feeling and mood to the under¬lying design. Colour alone cannot make a garden, but it can enrich the design and highlight different parts of the scheme at different times. It can attract atten¬tion by means of bright harmony or by shocking contrasts; it can produce tranquillity through quiet harmonies or monotones, or create movement within the design by means of flowing harmonies and contrasts (which is perhaps the most ambitious and difficult part of gardening). Edwardian herbaceous borders were so magnificent precisely because of their fine tuning of colour on a grand scale over a long sea¬son. Use colour purposefully, to your own ends and tastes, but never underestimate its power. Right and wrong may be in the eye of the beholder, but almost everyone recognizes chaos for what it is. Above all, colour in gardens is a means to an end like any other tool, rather than an end in itself.
Regardless of the effect sought through colour selection, there is no getting away from the need for green. It is the backbone of any colour scheme and should always be in evidence. There is a whole range to choose from: fresh apple greens will complement white and yellow, and warm bronzy greens will set off orange and scarlets. In a single-colour garden the presence of greens is particularly important and should be used to maximum effect.
Everything in a garden has colour, not just flowers, but foliage, walls, buildings, paths and seats. To¬gether they offer the opportunity for endless experi¬mentation and variety. If the hard landscaping has been inherited with the garden, the colour of brick walls, gravel and so on must be taken into account before embarking on a colour scheme to which they might be unsympathetic. A new site offers a rare opportunity: a chance to create the design, with the colours, of the gardener’s dreams.
Tags: borders, colour garden, colour scheme, colours, gardener, gravel, greens, herbaceous borders, monotones, tranquillity