A riot of colour or careful colour harmonies, both mean that you must consider and think about using colour in your garden.
Colour Themed Gardens The first impression in a garden is colour. And we react to that colour whether it is part of the planting or hard-landscaping.
Colour in the hard-landscaping involves the colour of walls, furniture, paving and structures. In plants it is more complex as plants can have flowers and leaves in different colours, and colour changes with the seasons and with the light.
Designing with the colour of plants gives us a chance to influence the mood of a garden. Cool greens on a baking summer's day are refreshing, peaceful. Bright colour schemes that are exuberant, striking and can cheer a visitor. Pastel colours are relaxing and soothing, although for some they are dull and unexciting. It all depends on the atmosphere that you want in your garden.
Ignoring the Rules! Some gardeners like to ignore all the colour rules. Cottage schemes were traditionally muddled and not the careful gradations and combinations that we have grown used to. And today we have deliberate clashing of colours, bold innovative schemes with brash oranges and vibrant reds used in the same garden.
Colours that were once highly unfashionable have become the latest thing in colour design. Hot colour gardens can be bold and push the boundaries, or in traditional English gardens, such as at stately Cliveden or the masterpiece of Tintinhull hot colour borders have long been used as a counterpoint to pastel borders.
Colour in the Tropics Tropical plants and their flamboyant colours make hot colour gardens ideal for use in the warmer areas of New Zealand. Using a lot of strong colour can become repetitive and lose impact, moving from a cool green area of a garden into a boldly coloured area heightened the impact of the colours and makes an impression of dazzling colours. Sweeps of bold strong colours and a measured use of these 'party colours' will heighten their impact and produce a more satisfying scheme.
Using paler colours or harmonising colours is restful, calming and makes the visitor relax. Sometimes too much colour harmony can bore and a stronger hue can lift a scheme. As with any planting, dotting colour about gives the eye nowhere to rest and makes a visitor feel edgy and unsettled.
Contrasts and Harmonies There are some basic colour rules that it helps to understand when you are planning your garden. Not rules to be followed, for rules are made to be broken, especially in our gardens where we must all follow our own star and make our own choices.
Primary and Secondary Colours There are three primary colours, red, blue and yellow. Using these colours, which lie opposite each other on the colour wheel, are 'complementary' colours. These colours are very popular today - used together they produce strong contrasts and very bold schemes. Think of clear yellow daffodils and bold red tulips together, brazen and innovative for come but simply 'too much' for other gardeners.
The secondary colours lie between the primary colours on the colour wheel. Orange, purple and green, and the myriad hues that lie between.
Harmonious colours are those that lie next to each other on the colour wheel. Think of yellow and green, blue and green, red-pink with purple.
Most of the flowers that we grow are not primary colours, with the exception of yellow and red tulips and a few other colours. Most flower colours contain a touch of another colour. Take blue; the purple-blue of campanula, lavender and many other flowers is used as 'blue' in our gardens.
Cool Colours and Warm Colours Artists have long used the trick of using cool colours to create perspective. For cool colours lose focus and require close viewing to see the detail, thus they seem farther away.
Hot colours, on the other hand, immediately draw the eye and seem to be closer than they are, foreshortening distance in a planting. It is not for nothing are these colours said to be 'in your face'!
Colourists such as Gertrude Jekyll used this technique to push back the boundaries in the garden. Pale colours were planted at the far end of a border and hot colours near the front, making the border itself seem longer than it is in reality.
Design with Colour in Mind Understanding how colour affects the viewer and how we can manipulate it in the border brings a whole new repertoire to the gardener.
More Design
Glorious colour in the double borders, Nymans, UK
The most famous colour garden of all
The White Garden, Sissinghurst Castle
The Impressionists understood how light affects colour
