Colour

Use the principles of the colour wheel to set up dazzling contrasts of shade and hue

The colour wheel has been informing our plant choices for decades. The three primary colours (red, yellow and blue) can be paired and mixed to make the secondary colours that lie between them on the wheel (orange, green and purple). When you choose two opposing colours on the wheel you get a dazzling contrast – red and green, orange and blue, yellow and purple and so on. This is a useful rule of thumb and it’s certainly true that orange geums and purple salvia do make a stunning duo. Planting for colour contrasts is one of the most popular reasons to garden. Even in a pared-back restricted colour palette you always have green as a given, and this contrasts well with all colours – perhaps with the exception of blue, as the two colours can look a bit subdued and recessive without a frisson of white to pep them up. Indeed, white can add a lightness to any colour pairing, while its opposite, black, can add a sense of underlying drama. Both black and white are excellent contrasts for red flowers – think red poppies or tulips floating in a sea of white Ammi majus or Orlaya grandiflora.

SUNSHINE & BLUE SKY Yellow and blue are excellent partners for contrasting colour schemes. Here Rudbeckia fulgida deamii and blue Aster laevis ‘Calliope’ brighten up a September border

❤ TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT? The similar hues of these double orange gaillardias and peach zinnias create an eye-popping effect that works because the zinnias themselves have an orange central eye. The brooding blue Salvia farinacea and rudbeckia behind...