Refine your PALETTE
HERE’S HOW TO SHOW YOUR TRUE COLOURS THROUGH YOUR GARDEN
Most gardeners – and non-gardeners – have heard of Vita SackvilleWest, who is possibly best known for her courageous design of the White Garden at Sissinghurst Castle.
I’d love a single-colour garden – well, dual colour, if you count green – but I am far too flighty and undisciplined. Ten minutes after announcing to The Partner that I’m going to plant a totally cream garden, something purple catches my eye and
I’m trying to figure out how to incorporate it.
I have done quite well with the gardens bordering our front terrace, which are green, white and orange, although I am yet to rehome a vagrant agapanthus which has migrated in there without permission.
You may wonder what the point is of gardens with a limited palette, and this comment from a US garden designer I read recently sums it up: “The use of one colour or a group of related tones allows the gardener to emphasise the texture and scale of different plants, and also to create some very painterly effects.”
But the gardener added that “a splash of yellow from a self-sown seedling, for example, may be just the contrast needed to bring out the full effect of an all-pink or all-blue bedding scheme.”
I immediately felt better about the rogue agapanthus, although I’m not quite sure whether it’s earnt a reprieve yet.
I can’t count the number of times friends have said to me that they really don’t understand colour and can I please tell them what ones to plant (if they knew I am obsessive about always
wearing matching bra and knickers, and that my shoes nearly always match my top, and that I never wear more than three colours at once, they’d probably ask someone else.)
Luckily, there are a few guidelines you can employ to get the look you want. The first task, probably, is to decide whether you’re a ‘cool’, ‘warm’ or a monochrome person.
COOL
Blues, purples and pinks are naturally relaxing hues and are said to create a low-key, serene mood. Blues, lavenders, very pale pinks and whites are your go-to colours for this look, and luckily there are myriad plants to choose from.
If you have a reasonable amount of space, build up a look that makes use of tall spikes of lavender, lilies, irises and agapanthus, anchoring them with fat clumps of hydrangeas nearby. If you only have a small space, you could use bedding plants and plant them in a geometric design.
WARM
Nobody can deny that autumn colours are heart-warming, so why not use warm-coloured plants to create an autumnal look all year round. Tones of red and orange bring vibrancy and energy to landscapes, and allow you to make use of trees and shrubs to create a fiery design.
Rhododendrons, vireyas, grevilleas, roses, begonias, climbing campsis and even common old nasturtiums and marigolds could play a part too.
MONOCHROME
The simple choice of a single colour garden is very appealing. For starters, it’s easy – no asking yourself, ‘Does this go with that?’ You can keep all plants the same hue or if you want to challenge yourself just a little, you can choose different tones of the same shade.
I love the idea of a graduated garden using shades from, say, the palest lilac to the most vibrant purple. A graduated garden is definitely in my sights.
If you’re still confused, hit your local paint shop for a colour wheel and then consult auntie Google for a good explanation of how it works.
It’s actually quite scientific and the different ways of combining colours are described like this:
• Analogous – colours close together on the wheel
• Complementary – colours directly opposite each other on the wheel
• Split complementary – a colour and then the two colours on each side
• Triadic – three colours equally spaced around the wheel
• Tetradic – four colours that are two sets of complements.
And what is the role of green? It’s the colour most often seen in a garden and perhaps the most taken for granted. Green is said to help your eyes recover from strain and after every hour at my computer, I test that by taking a walk around the garden. Does it work? Who cares?!