Using Color Combinations in the Garden
Warm Colors
Are you ready for some hot, hot, hot! Here comes the warm colors, Orange, Yellow and Red. Offset by their contrast colors of Blue, Purple and Green.
Gold Coin, Rudbeckia and Coreopsis are great representations of flowers in yellow, All daisies, which turn out to have a large proportion of yellow flowers including Sunflowers. Probably the most iconic yellow flower of all.
Oranges can be quite a cross section of shades. From dark, rust color to pale orange. Pictured here are Begonias in a cerise color (red with orange), California Poppies hybridized to be a medium orange and Gaillardia- Blanket flower with orange center and yellow edges. Don’t you love that little metal sun peeking out over the blossoms!?
Reds also have a wide range of shades many tending towards pink or orange. Red is a “pop” color and tends to draw the eye even from a long distance.
Pictured are Hybridized Cuphea in a clear red with yellow center, Verbena in a red/orange color and a Red Ginger Flower with just a hint of pink.
Masses of warm colors are used in planting beds to represent the arrival of Summer running through the Autumn months with the last daisies dying off around November.
Gardens with an abundance of warm colors evokes happiness and vivaciousness. Masses of warm colored annuals are visually stimulating and encourage people to venture further into the garden to see the flower displays.
Butchart Gardens
Butchart Gardens in Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, inspired this blog series. If the Botanical Gardens of North America were members of the Royal Family then Butchart Garden would be the Empress. The gardens are without compare. And its garden staff are the leaders in combining colors and bedding plants to create tapestries that fill the gardens. I was so lucky to visit last summer and spend the day ogling the huge collection of plants, pristine flower beds and multitude of themed gardens. I was there with visitors from all over the world. This garden is a destination in itself. And to think the original site was a Cement Plant!
The Butchart Family, mostly Mrs. Butchart, developed the garden over many years, starting near their home and steadily working out to the area where their quarry and cement plant was. Workers from the plant helped her build the gardens and re-purpose to quarry into the sunken garden and lake, complete with a huge fountain jet. Over 100 years old now, a dedicated legion of staff keep the gardens looking perfect everyday including winter. Wow!
The photos above are all taken in the gardens where marigolds, asters, impatiens, fiberous begonias, zinnias and other annuals fill the display beds. The site has a native forest that is a backdrop for the sumptuous flower beds.
Cool Colors
Whites, light or pale tones with the greens of the garden make up the palette for a garden with cool colors. Like pastels the feel here is calm. A place to rest and let the stress of everyday life fall away.
Japanese and Chinese Gardens have this feel. Lots of green and only a few color accents. A place to take time to be quiet, to stroll and to think. The bright colors are on the Koi in the fish pond!
ground cover for light shade
Just as in nature the flowers are fleeting and hide themselves among the foliage. No big showy beds of annuals or long rows of blossoms just a few surprises as you explore the garden.
The next blog in this series will discuss how to use the color combinations we have discussed and what applications you can use from these articles for your own home.
