Late-summer sizzlers: fiery coloured plants for a hot summer show
Hot colours are a late-summer garden essential, but how do you use them to best effect? Louise Curley reveals fiery favourites, plus techniques to avoid burnout
WHATEVER the weather this summer, it’s possible to raise the temperature in your borders and containers by combining flowers and foliage in fiery hot tones, which will be enhanced by the intensity of the light at this time of year. Attention-seeking reds and yellows, primary colours on the colour wheel, are not the easiest of hues to work with, as they tend to clash with each other. Add in a splash of orange, however, and they’re transformed, the latter having a harmonising effect.
These strong tones are known as ‘advancing’ colours because they give the impression that they are closer than they actually are. This can be useful if you want to create a cosy, intimate space; if, on the other hand, you are worried that they’ll make your plot feel too small, it’s a good idea to intersperse any hot colours with paler tones, planting them at the far end of the garden to draw the eye.
While pastels help create an air of tranquillity, bold oranges and reds, in particular, are known to stimulate the senses, making a space feel energetic and dynamic, especially when used en masse.
Add some cooler tones
Hot colours aren’t for the faint-hearted, but it’s easy to dial down the vibrancy a notch by adding in plants in cooler tones of the same colour. For example, you can temper a hot orange with an apricot shade, or try lemon yellow alongside sunshine yellows. Alternatively, use these fiery colours sparingly, dotting them in amongst a predominantly pale-hued border to add pockets of electrifying colour.
All that heat needs a calming backdrop, and including plenty of midand dark green foliage will do the job perfectly – as will the buff and silvery tones of bleached grasses like Stipa tenuissima (now called Nasella tenuissima thanks to a recent name change) and Pennisetum villosum.
Silver foliage, such as that of Stachys byzantina or artemisia, combines well with yellows and oranges, making them appear less intense. Meanwhile dark foliage with purple and bronze tones (cotinus, Sambucus nigra, dark-leaved dahlias like ‘Bishop of Llandaff ’ and
Actaea ‘Queen of Sheba’) will create a sultry, smouldering feel – like burning embers rather than a flickering flame.
Whether or not we get our share of warm sunshine this year, planting up some perky perennials in spicy reds, oranges and yellows over the coming weeks is one surefire way to generate some summer heat.