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How the pros use colour

A row of humble daylilies is an effective way to add curb appeal to this cottage. Notice how the eye is drawn away from the road and along the length of the driveway.Each spring, gardeners are given a clean slate to fill with color. There are so many choices that we often end up with a hodgepodge of colors or, afraid to make a mistake, we just stick with something we've tried before.

How do the experts use color to pull a garden together?

Successful designers seem to have a gift for simplicity.

We've all heard the saying "less is more," and this same principle is equally effective in the garden as dramatic, cohesive and elegant gardens often rely on various hues of just one color. Some are virtually all green, or include only white and blue accents. New gardeners are often confused about where to start when it comes to color as there are so many choices available. A simple theme helps to maintain focus. Once decide, it will be the variety of shapes and textures of the plant materials that will provide visual interest.

 A narrow bed along a well-used walkway is mass planted with ground hugging perennial geraniums interplanted with brilliant red 'Couleur Cardinal' tulips for early season interest.
 Blocks of one plant show up much better than spots of color from a collection of plants, particularly when they are seen from afar. Notice how the daylilies echo the color of the golden leaves of the maple.
 A well proportioned urn or a brightly colored glazed container will create memorable, easy care focal points in the garden.
Using different perennials in the same color family will pull a garden together. It's also an inexpensive way to add curb appeal when putting a house on the market or competing in a neighbourhood beautification competition. Tying a garden's color scheme in with the trim on the house will add extra impact, as will co-ordinating the plantings in hanging baskets, containers and window boxes as well as tucking a few of the same plants among the evergreens and woody ornamentals in the garden. Long blooming, economical perennials such as coneflowers, coreopsis and sedums work well for this application.

Paint works wonders

At a recent conference for garden centres and designers, the experts suggested keeping retail color schemes trendy by painting fixtures or even just a few accessories. A can of paint is an inexpensive way to experiment with color without replacing fixtures or redecorating the whole store. It's a concept that can be easily tried at home, especially since today's paint stores have no difficulty mixing colors to match any specific item. If, for example, one is in love with the violet/blue blooms of periwinkle, getting paint color-matched to that specific shade of blue is a breeze. Painting a Muskoka chair, obelisk or bench to match the color of a dominant flower in the garden is akin to matching the color of a purse to one's shoes. It ties the ensemble, or, in this case, garden, together.

A well proportioned urn or a brightly colored glazed container can be used to create memorable focal points in a garden. Talk about low maintenance - one doesn't even need to fill the container with plants, as its form and color are enough to carry the design, particularly if the surrounding plantings include 'echoes' of that same color.

Fabulous foliage

Then there are spectacular gardens in which one is hard pressed to find any flowers. Upon closer examination, the success of these gardens lies in using colorful leaves to their best advantage. By including interesting foliage plants, gardens can exhibit seasonal colors without having a single flower in bloom. Hosta and coral bells (Heuchera) offer a wide array of colours. Heuchera 'Marmalade' (orange) and 'Lime Ricky' (lime green) will brighten up a shady corner and they work beautifully in containers as well.

Blocks of color

Hot reds, pinks, yellows and oranges look best in a sunny garden. Pastel shades of pink, green, blue and violet seem to fade when they are out in the hot summer sun, however, they glow when grown in dappled sunlight or afternoon shade. Keep in mind that hot colors stimulate, energize and appear to come forward, while cool colors, relax, soothe, refresh and appear to recede.

Use mass plantings for strong appeal in the garden. Blocks of one plant show up much better than spots of color from a collection of plants, particularly when they are seen from afar. (See photo #3) Surprisingly, the same strategy works to unify a smaller space as well. Where space allows, consider planting an entire flat, rather than the conventional 3-5 plants, in a grouping. In large scale plantings, several flats of one plant can be used to really make a statement.

For example, a narrow bed along a well-used walkway features a row of shade trees underplanted with perennial geraniums. For early season interest, the geraniums are inter-planted with brilliant red tulips, by early summer the geraniums expand to cover the bed and are smothered with violet colored flowers. In the fall, the geranium foliage takes on shades of red and yellow. This mass planting looks good from early spring through to the fall, with very little maintenance. (See photo #2)

Concerned this type of planting is monotonous? Select plants that offer several seasons of interest. For best effect, plant blocks of plants that will bloom in sequence over the growing season.

With a few tips from the pros, we can use color to enliven our lives and our gardens, and perhaps create a little color buzz in our own neighborhood.

 

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